The Butterfly Effect
by blue razz gal
Summary: This fic starts off near the end of Prime Queen, when Prime Queen is about to shove Alya into the water. Let's pretend that Chat used Cataclysm earlier, to save Chloe or something. Drama ensues. Rated T for kissing and violence I guess? Idk
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Ladybug looked around anxiously for a way to cover up the screen. Chat's Miraculous was timing out, and there was no way she could let all of Paris find out his identity. She quickly taped a pizza box over the large screen, effectively blocking Prime Queen's view of them.

"Uh—Ladybug!" Chat's voice came out wobbly, lacking that flirty flair it usually had.

She closed her eyes and turned around, reaching out a hand. "It's okay Chat. I'm not looking."

"No!" she heard him yell. "Behind you!" She tried to duck, but felt arms wrapped around her small form. Fearing Prime Queen's grasp, Ladybug struggled against the chilly, taut arm muscles that surrounded her shoulders, only to hear Chat's faint mumble. "It's okay, m'lady." He sounded in pain.

"Chat?" she cried. "Chat! Are you hurt?"

"I..I'll be fine." He definitely didn't sound like it.

"Chat, if you're hurt—"

"TIME'S UP, LADYBUG AND CHAT NOIR! As soon as I break through this barrier, I'm going to reveal your identities!" Prime Queen's annoying voice broke through the moment.

"Chat? Can you cover yourself up?" _He must be freezing without his warm suit,_ she thought.

"Yes." She heard the rustle of a trash bag from one of the containers in the freezer they were trapped in. "You can open your eyes, now." Her lashes flew open, and she tried to fight the urge to look in the direction of his voice, but she couldn't stop herself. She saw the toes of his orange tennis shoes, but, thankfully, everything else was covered, because at that exact moment, Prime Queen leapt through the screen. The villain's eyes were also drawn to Chat Noir's trash bag in the corner. Sensing what she was going to do, Ladybug jumped on Prime Queen's back before she could hurt Chat. Ladybug struggled to contain Prime Queen, wrestling the surprisingly strong villain's arms behind her back. Unfortunately, her own transformation was about to run out.

Desperately, she searched the room for a resource. Once again, her eyes landed on Chat. "Chat! Use the bag! I'll close my eyes. Bug's honor." She shut her eyes gently, eyebrows knitting together as she was yanked about by Prime Queen. She pushed Prime Queen against the wall to keep her from seeing Chat's civilian form. She heard the rustle of the trash bag and then Prime Queen was fully encased in the bag. Ladybug purified the akuma and shoved Nadja Chamack out of the freezer, eyes still closed, forgetting Chat for a moment—that is, until she heard his groan of pain. She shut the door, telling Chat to close his eyes. She de-transformed and let Tikki eat before transforming again and looking for Chat, who was nowhere to be found. She figured he was hiding, so she closed her eyes again.

"Chat! What happened?" She felt around, trying to find him without looking.

"I'm…not sure. When she punched through the computer screen, I got in the way, and it feels like I've been stabbed," he added, leaning against the wall and watching her feel around for him. He weakly reached out his hand to cover hers, pushing it back down to her side.

"Do you need to go to the doctor?" she asked, her features twisted up in worry. He almost laughed, bitterly. _At least she cares about me when I'm hurt._

"No, no doctor." He groaned, pushing away from the wall and walking closer to her. "I'm fine."

Her eyebrows lowered. "I don't believe you. Can you transform again?"

Plagg had been eating the potatoes from a drawer in the freezer. "Yes. Plagg, claws out!" She listened as he transformed back into Chat Noir. "You can open your eyes now, m'lady." Her eyes fluttered open, and she backed up when she saw how close he was. "Miss me?" He said, but his voice lacked enthusiasm, and his eyes squinted in pain.

"Chat…turn around," she said. She looked at the open wound on his back. How had Prime Queen done this? Why didn't saying "Miraculous Ladybug" fix this? "You need to go to a doctor."

"I can't. Can't reveal my identity." he muttered.

He also couldn't go home like this; Ladybug knew that much. He leaned back, unable to hold up his own weight. She caught him with her hands just above his elbows, silently making her decision. "I know where you can go. I have a friend that can help you." He nodded in response, eyes shutting as he passed out. She pulled him over her shoulders, careful to avoid touching his wound, and set out for her home.

By the time Ladybug reached the Dupain-Cheng bakery, it was past midnight. She landed on the roof with a _thud,_ laying the semi-conscious Chat Noir on a lounge chair. Looking into the window, she pretended to see a sleeping Marinette in her bed. "She's asleep," Ladybug said. "But she shouldn't take too long to come help you. I'll go in and get her." Chat nodded, head lolling off to one side of the chair.

A few moments later, Marinette rushed back out to the roof, sans the Ladybug outfit, with a first aid kit in hand. "Ladybug told me you were hurt. Show me the wound." He rolled over on his stomach and watched her assess the damage as if for the first time. His eyes opened a little wider when he realized it was his classmate Marinette who was taking care of him.

He tried to sit up. "Where's Ladybug?" He looked around wildly while Marinette laid him back down gently.

"Shhhh," she said. "She had to leave; her transformation was running out."

"Of course," he muttered. "She cares more about not knowing each other's identities than she does about making sure I'm okay."

Marinette wiped the thankfully shallow wound a little too roughly, causing Chat to whimper. "She was very worried…" Marinette muttered. _She's still worried._

He laughed weakly. "Yeah, right. I'm sure she was crying and begged you to come help me."

Tears sprung to Marinette's eyes at Chat's words. She really had been crying when she dropped Chat off on the roof. "I'm serious. She said she would come back in a little while to check on you."

"Why bother? She clearly doesn't care." He looked down at the roof.

"How could you say that, Chat Noir? Ladybug obviously cares for you a lot. She saves you often." Marinette finished fixing the wound but pretended to keep working on it so she could talk to Chat a little longer.

"She doesn't save _me_ ; she saves _Paris._ Besides, even if she was saving me, it's hard to believe she cares at all after today." He rolled over when Marinette's hands fell to her sides. Glancing at her but unable to meet her eyes, he stood and leaned over the railing.

Marinette followed, looking out over Paris next to him. "What happened today?" she asked softly, though she thought she already knew.

"I…she rejected me, twice. In a harsh way," he said, wincing. "I thought I loved her, but this…she's been rather cruel about my feelings lately."

"Well, maybe she just doesn't think they're real…like, maybe she thinks you're just a flirt?" Marinette said, feeling the blush on her face.

"I only flirt with her. How could she not know that? Besides, telling jokes all the time is just who I am. I guess she doesn't like the real me."

Now it was Marinette's turn to wince. "Have you tried talking to Ladybug about all this? I'm sure she'll understand if you explain everything to her."

"For what? Just so she can reject me again? No thanks, I can take a hint." His eyes became more downcast.

"Chat—"

"Thanks for stitching me up, Marinette." He flashed a sad smile her way. "You're a really good friend." Marinette looked up at him through her lashes, astonished at how similar he sounded to her crush, Adrien. "Can I stop by again sometime?"

"I…" She thought about it. She wouldn't mind losing sleep to fix Chat Noir's relationship with Ladybug. After all, it would directly help her anyway. "Sure. Anytime, Chat. Just be sure to knock on my window first, okay?" He nodded before leaping off into the night, holding his side and dreading patrol the next night.

Chat Noir was there first for patrol. Legs hanging off the edge of the tall building, he looked down at the brightly lit city. The "City of Love" looked ugly to him now that he had no love of his own. Not only had he been rejected by Ladybug, but also his father; Gabriel had yelled at him the night before for coming home so late. He assumed the teen had sneaked out, so he grounded Adrien and took his phone, computer, and kept him from going anywhere all day. The only chance he got to leave was when his father left at six for his plane to Spain, where he was meeting with some other major fashion company for the next month and a half. Though Nathalie and the Gorilla were supposed to keep an eye on Adrien, he easily slipped out the window as Chat Noir and found his way to the rooftop where he and Ladybug always started patrol. When he tried to stand so they could get this over with, his Lady placed a hand on his shoulder and sat down next to him.

Nothing was said for a little while, but then he looked at her. She was shaking, tears running down her face in a way that was so unlike her that it startled him. "L-Ladybug?"

Immediately she threw her arms around him, full-on sobbing. He didn't respond, hands hanging limply by his sides. "Why? Why?"

Conflicted, he gently looped his arms around her. "Why what?"

The lack of a "m'lady" or "bugaboo" didn't escape her notice. "Why did you let yourself get hurt like that?"

But he took it the wrong way; instead of hearing her concern, he heard an accusation. "I was saving _you._ Don't worry, I won't let it happen again," he spat, pulling his arms away.

She pulled back, blinking. "C-Chat?"

He stood up. "Let's finish patrol."

She numbly followed him across the rooftops as he made it nearly impossible for her to keep up. When they made it back to the first rooftop, he didn't finish with his signature bow or asking for a kiss. Instead, he turned and jumped off, leaving her by herself without so much as a goodbye.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: Feel free to leave comments/criticism, I need it y'all. Anywho, I've been avoiding homework by writing this so I guess it's time to go / r/

 **Chapter Two**

Ladybug returned home after another uneventful patrol. Chat had ignored her the entire time, just like he had at that first awful patrol a month ago. Emotionally exhausted, Marinette slunk down in her bed. It had been weeks since she had gotten more than three hours of sleep—because Hawkmoth had been suspiciously inactive all month, she made the painful decision of having patrol every night, but she decided against asking Chat to go with her. Instead, she had been patrolling alone except for on Thursday nights, which was their normal patrol night. She smiled bittersweetly as she remembered Adrien's reaction to her sleepy demeanor the day after that first bad patrol.

 _Marinette trudged into class and slumped in her seat behind Adrien, whom she hadn't even noticed waving at her. He turned around before the bell rang, trying to get her attention. "Uh, Marinette? Are you okay?"_

" _Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired is all. I stayed up really late last night talking to a friend." She hadn't stuttered at all, even though she was lying. Adrien smiled widely at her._

" _You must be a good listener. I already know you're a great friend. What friend are you talking about?" he asked. Thankfully, the bell rang, leaving Marinette baffled at Adrien's smile and cryptic question._

And then later that day, he had offered to walk her home. She had sleepily complied, leaning on his shoulder a little as they neared her house. He said his goodbye but watched her meander through the door, giving a secret smile that she wouldn't have noticed even if she had been watching him—that's how sleepy she was.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud rap at her window. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. When she saw Chat Noir at her window, she internally groaned. She was way too sleep-deprived to handle this.

She remembered the first time he had knocked on her window. _She opened the window. "What is it,_ chaton _? Are you hurt? Is there an akuma?"_

 _He laughed lightly, nose crinkling. "Why would I come here if there was an akuma? I'd be out fighting it. And no, I'm not hurt. I just wanted to see you." He muttered the last part, looking down at her assorted pillows with a light blush._

Now, when he asked to come in, she blanched. "Oh! Yeah, I, uh, okay!" Crap, WHY was she stuttering? "Come in…"

His leather-clad feet made a padding noise on the floor. He sat in her desk chair, spinning lightly as she lay down on the bed. "Are you sleepy?" he asked, giggling.

She closed her eyes. "No. I'm hyped up on caffeine. I can't even—" she cut herself off with a yawn, bringing a smirk out of the black cat. "I can't even sit still."

He laughed, leaning his head on his arms, which were crossed over the top of the desk chair he was sitting in backwards. "Can I talk to you?"

She sat up, giving him her full attention, no matter how sleepy she was. "Sure, _minou._ You can tell me anything."

He smiled up at her before looking down at the floor in deep thought. "I still haven't told Ladybug how I feel, even though I know I should…"

" _Chat,"_ she scolded. "That's just going to make things worse!"

He perked up. "Really?"

"Yes," she muttered. "What if _you're_ the one hurting _her_ feelings now?"

"If anything, that's just payback," he joked. When she didn't laugh, he mumbled, "no. I don't ever want to hurt her."

"Then listen to me, _chaton._ She doesn't want to hurt you, either. Maybe she's been…insensitive, in the past. But she cares deeply for you. She is dying to know what she can do to fix things." Marinette sucked in a breath at her last words, which came out a little too matter-of-factly.

"How do you know?" Chat murmured.

"Uh—she talks to me! Yep, that's how she knew to bring you here when you were hurt. We talk sometimes. I don't know why a superhero would talk to me, though. That's just crazy!" she rambled, face reddening.

"I do," Chat said, taking her hand in his own. Still, there was the barrier of his costume between their hands. "You're amazing, Marinette."

Once again, the blue-haired girl remembered her crush's words, from when they played video games in her room. _"You're amazing, Marinette."_ But Adrien always meant that as a friend.

"Well," she said. "At least _you_ think so."

"What do you mean?" Chat seemed concerned for her.

"Oh, nothing." She lay back down, hands over her eyes.

"Is there someone who doesn't think you're amazing, Marinette?" He pried her hands off her eyes.

"Yeah," she said flatly, "some people from school."

"Like who?" He scooted closer, eyebrows lowering angrily.

"Like Chloe and her friend Sabrina and this guy—"

"There's a guy? Who is it?" He leaned in to look at her.

"I don't mean it like that, kitty. I just mean he doesn't think I'm amazing."

"Well, what's his name, _princesse_?"

"It doesn't matter," she muttered. "He only thinks of me as a friend." She had taken down his pictures a few days ago, no longer optimistic about having a chance with him. But it was okay; she was glad for his friendship, even if that was all she would ever get.

"What? Why would someone reject you?" Even as Adrien, he had been hanging out with Marinette more. She no longer stuttered around him and even made jokes back to him when she wasn't exhausted. He was starting to have feelings for her as well, and he wondered what was keeping her up at night, so he had started visiting more frequently, but he only ever caught her just as she was falling asleep.

"Because he's a model and he probably doesn't even have time for a girlfriend," she muttered.

"Are you talking about…Adrien Agreste?" Chat asked incredulously. There was no way she missed his signature lovesick smile in class every day.

"Ugh." She pressed a pillow over her face. "It's dumb; I know."

"It's not dumb—" she groaned into her pillow. "Okay, fine, we won't talk about that then. Just take the pillow off your face before you suffocate." He gently pulled it away from her, expecting her grumpy face but seeing her fluttering eyelids. She had fallen asleep, as she always did when he visited. And just as he always did, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, because this was the only time he could.

The next week, she was so sleepy that she forgot her own birthday. Alya was absent for a dentist's appointment, so Marinette slept through class in peace. After school, when everyone else had left, she dragged her feet to her locker and placed her forehead against the cool metal. She didn't even notice her missing lock when she opened the locker, staring into Chat Noir's green eyes. Her own eyes widened, and she looked around nervously. "Chat! What are you doing here?" She whisper-yelled. He stepped out of her locker, and several cards and gifts fell out. Nearly all of her classmates had bought their class president a card. She embarrassedly shoved the cards back into the locker and caught Chat's eyes again.

"I'm here to take you on an adventure." He held out his hand.

"What? Why?" She bent down to pick up another stray card.

"It's your birthday, _purr_ incess. We have to celebrate. Come on."

She squinted at him. "How did you know it's my birthday, _chaton_?"

"It's marked on your calendar!" He said cheerfully, referencing the calendar in her room. He picked her up and jumped through the window.

"Where are we going?" she shouted over the wind.

"You'll see." He flashed a sharp tooth at her and kept going. Eventually, they landed in the middle of some trees in the park.

"Uh, Chat? Isn't this kind of a dangerous place for a birthday party?" She looked around nervously.

"What do you mean?" He frowned.

"Well, it's kind of obscure from view and there's nobody else here."

He laughed a little. "Princess, I'm not a bad guy. Besides, this isn't the actual place. Follow me." He pointed her toward a clearing. Strung up all around were fancy lights, and in the middle of the clearing, there was a table set up with a cake and a radio manned by Nino. Alya was sitting down, wrapping gifts. The rest of her class was also there—minus Chloe and Sabrina—all dressed in pretty clothes and smiling. Alya jumped up.

"Marinette! How did you know about the party? You're here early."

She turned to look at Chat Noir, but he was nowhere to be found. "I was just out for a walk," she said nervously. "I can leave, if you w—"

"No, girl, come on! Let's have fun," Alya yanked on her friend's hand, pulling her into a dance as Nino turned on a fast song. A few songs later, Alya grinned at her friend. "You'll thank me for this later," she said, shoving Marinette backwards.

"Woah!" she yelled, falling back. Thankfully, someone caught her under the arms. She looked up into the green eyes of… _Chat Noir? No! Adrien! They're nothing alike, why did she even_ think _that?_ "Oh!" She was stuttering with him for the first time in weeks. "Uh—hi, Adrien!"

He smirked down at her. "Hey, Marinette."

Just then, Nino switched to a slow song, giving a thumbs-up in their direction. Marinette slowly stood up and turned to face Adrien. "Sorry about that! Sometimes I—my feet—they—I trip," she finally finished, face burning. He giggled… _just like Chat Noir. No, Marinette! Stop thinking about him!_

Adrien bowed in front of her. "May I have this dance?"

Her face reddened even more. "Uh—sorry! I just remembered I have to go—do something!" She turned and ran back into the copse of trees where she had last seen Chat. Nathanael chased after her, but she hid behind some trees and transformed into Ladybug. Walking back out to the party, she came up to a few of her friends.

"Has anyone seen Chat Noir? My sources say he was most recently spotted here."

Alya squinted up at her favorite hero. "Wow, what sources? My Ladyblog hasn't even updated that quickly."

"It—it doesn't matter. I just really need to talk to him," she could feel herself having a meltdown. She looked around the crowd to see if she could find him in there, but her eyes kept going back to Adrien. He looked irritated.

 _No, Marinette. He couldn't possibly be Chat Noir._

Fearing that he was upset enough to be akumatized, she sat down on the bench next to him. "Hey, you're that model, Adrien Agreste, right? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, still sad. "Why do you want to see Chat Noir anyway? I heard that you hate him now."

"Where did you hear that?" Her breath caught in her throat.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't get to answer that question, because at that exact moment, a booming voice shouted out over Paris:

"WHERE IS LADYBUG?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** guess who's procrastinating again ahahahahhaaa this gal i haven't slept in a while and i'm not going to cuz that's the way i like to live my life (*bill wurtz singing voice*) do i have any time before exams? no. so am i gonna stop writing and study? also no. pleeeeeeeeease review my dudes my self-worth as a writer is at stake here

 **Chapter Three**

Ladybug stood up from her perch next to Adrien. "Sorry, this will have to wait till another time," she said, swinging toward the villain.

"Ah…" the villain said, glancing her way. "There you are."

It was some kind of huge spider, though the person's head was the spider's head. All eight of the villain's legs swung at Ladybug, narrowly missing her. While dodging the hits, Ladybug scanned for the item she would need to destroy, though she couldn't see any item on the villain.

She heard Hawkmoth's voice speaking to the villain [can they do that? Idk]. "Boomarachnid," he said. "Take Ladybug's Miraculous or I'll take back your powers!"

Boomarachnid's eyes narrowed and he threw a web at Ladybug. She jumped out of the way, waiting for the next attack. Instead, the villain stared behind her, and she turned back just in time to see Chat Noir jump in the way of the web, which had gone around a pole and returned back…like a boomerang. _Oh,_ Ladybug thought. _That's where the name comes from._ Chat stopped the web with his stick and stood next to his Lady in battle stance.

"It's about time you showed up!" Ladybug tried. Chat glared at her, throwing himself at Boomarachnid.

"I was busy," he replied, businesslike.

Ladybug tried to channel her hurt feelings into her attack on Boomarachnid, but when she went to strike with her yoyo, she tripped over Chat's foot. Their battle chemistry was off, just like their relationship chemistry. Chat didn't stop to help her up, just blocked all of Boomarachnid's attacks. Ladybug limped away, a temporary sharp pain throbbing in her ankle. She couldn't help it; tears started to leak out of her eyes. Chat saw her in his peripheral and leapt her way with a sigh, grabbing her waist and jumping off the roof. He pushed through a window and stood in an abandoned warehouse with her, though he made a point of standing several feet away.

"Are you okay? He asked her, avoiding her eyes guiltily.

"I'm fine. We need to—" Before she could say "fight," Boomarachnid broke through the wall and threw a web at them. Chat Noir, who was still facing Ladybug from a few feet away, was unable to dodge the attack in time and got tangled up in a web. While he lay on the ground, trying to escape, Ladybug saw Boomarachnid's legs hurry to the vulnerable prey. Limping as fast as she could to help Chat Noir, Ladybug knew she wouldn't make it in time to untangle him. When she was just three feet away, Boomarachnid had already made it to Chat. Just when the villain was about to stab through the web and grab Chat, Ladybug leapt in the way, and Boomarachnid's sharp legs punctured her abdomen. She looked up and saw, through a hole in the villain's suit, a boomerang.

Chat wailed at the sight of his Lady dropping to her knees. Boomarachnid reached for her Miraculous, and she didn't lift a finger to stop him. Chat broke through the webbing and shoved Boomarachnid through the window, watching as the villain fell several stories. Running over to Ladybug, he leaned over her, already crying.

"Chat…the akuma…it's inside the suit…a boomerang," she sputtered out. He pulled her up closer to his face so he could hear her.

"Ladybug, WHY? Why would you do that?"

"If anything, that's just payback," she whispered, and Chat flashed back to that night when he joked to Marinette about hurting Ladybug's feelings. He shook his head to rid the memory, and Ladybug shoved him away. "The akuma, Chat."

He jumped up when Boomarachnid climbed back through the gaping hole in the wall. Chat extended his staff into the front of the spider body, in the head hole, using his weapon as a lever to pull down the front of the suit. He reached a hand in as Boomarachnid swiped at him wildly. He tore the boomerang out of the suit, tossing it to Ladybug, who was standing against the wall. She tried to crack the boomerang open, but Boomerachnid threw her off the building. Chat Noir watched in horror as she soared through the air, cracking the boomerang and purifying the akuma instead of saving herself. She threw her yoyo up in the air because she hadn't used Lucky Charm, and then she plummeted into the canal below right after catching it. Chat jumped after her, leaving the akuma victim behind, panicking when Ladybug didn't come back up for air. He found her at the bottom of the canal and pulled her back up to dry ground. He tried to give her CPR but didn't know how and was crying so much that he couldn't, so he ran around with her in his arms.

"Somebody, please help!" He yelled hysterically. Everyone looked around, but no one was CPR-certified. A few strangers came up and asked questions, angering Chat even further.

Eventually, he ended up going to Marinette's house again. He knocked on her window, pacing and running his hands through his hair. But she didn't answer. He peeked in, and she wasn't there. He didn't have her phone number so there was no way for him to contact her. Going to the hospital was out of the question—she had made that clear to him before, and besides, her transformation was timing out. He heard the final warning beep and closed his eyes out of respect for her decision to not find out each other's identities.

He turned his back to her, sobbing and making panicked noises, until he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Ladybug?" He asked.

"No, sorry," a squeaky voice replied. "I'm Ladybug's kwami, Tikki. Listen, you have to find Master Fu if you want to save her."

"Where? Who's Master Fu?" Chat exclaimed, exasperated. Tikki gave him some very roundabout instructions so that she could get there before he did. He took off running.

Tikki flew away, off to save her chosen.

Adrien couldn't find Master Fu. He had searched the entire block and he couldn't find the old man. Not in his shop, not in any of the surrounding shops, and not on the street. He pushed his head against the wall and slammed his fist on the window. Hurrying back to Marinette's roof, he tried to wipe his tears, but they kept reappearing.

Marinette awoke to Master Fu, who was putting some kind of green ointment on her left side. There was blood and water all over her clothes and—were they on the roof? What was going on?

"Master Fu?" She asked, disoriented.

"You got hurt in battle. This should heal you up," he said. "It will take a few days, though. Don't fight too hard or you'll reopen the wound." He left quickly without saying goodbye.

Marinette slowly slid down into her room before changing clothes and showering with some difficulty. When she was all done, she lay in bed, exhausted and in pain. She felt the overwhelming presence of her scabbed-over wound and the lightheadedness of having lost a lot of blood. She coughed up a lot of water, feeling as if she were still drowning. Just as her eyes were drooping shut, she heard a knock at the window. She knew she couldn't get up and let Chat see her bandaged side, so she beckoned with her hand for him to come in. As she pulled her blanket up to her chin, she saw that he was crying.

"Chat, what's wro—?"

"Marinette!" he nearly shouted. "Where were you today?"

"I was busy," she said. A sob wracked through his body.

"Ladybug was hurt! I brought her here for help! And now…she's gone." He whispered the last part, burying his face in his hands. "What if she's hurt?" he whimpered out.

Marinette sat up, leaning forward to wrap her arms around his shaking shoulders. "Chat, Ladybug is okay." He sobbed bitterly in reply.

"How do you know?" he cried.

"She was passed out on my balcony when I walked up there so I helped her," Marinette said. He cried into her shoulder, tightening the hug.

"Where did she go?" He sounded less tearful now.

"I don't know," Marinette said. "But she's okay, Chat."

He laughed, worries leaving his body. "Thank you, Marinette," he whispered, once again tightening his hug.

"It's nothing to get all worked up over, _chaton,_ " she replied, pulling back and twanging his bell.

"Yes, it is. I—I don't know what I would have done without her. I _love_ her. I can't wait any longer. I have to tell her!"

"Why don't you call her tomorrow and set up a time to meet with her? I'm sure she wants to see you." Marinette looked down at the lump her bandage was making under her nightshirt and yanked the blanket up to cover it.

"I'll call her right now!" He stood up, pulling out his staff.

"WAIT! I mean—she's resting right now. I told her to," Marinette said, watching his eyes become downcast. "Wait until tomorrow morning, kitty."

He leaned down and kissed her hand, smiling widely at her before bounding out the window.

Marinette woke up early the next day, stretching her limbs and deciding to call Chat. She put on her suit and called him on her yoyo. He picked up within two seconds. "Ladybug, you're okay!"

She smiled, glad to have him back. "Just a little scratch," she said.

"Can I please meet you somewhere today? I need to talk to you," Chat's voice came from the other side of the line. Marinette glanced at her calendar. _Why not? It's Saturday._

"Okay. Top of the abandoned warehouse?"

He hung up immediately, so she started heading towards the warehouse.

When she got there, he ran to her. Even beneath her suit, the bulky bandage made a lump. Chat wrapped her in his arms, flinching when he saw the lump. "What's that?" he asked.

"My bandage," she muttered, closing the distance between them again. She tightened her arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe. Suddenly, her shoulder was wet. "Ah, Chat, don't cry. What's wrong?"

"Don't do that," he whispered. "Don't risk your life for me. It's…" He searched for the right word.

"Selfless?" she offered. "Really nice?"

"Reckless," he finally said. "You can't do stuff like that and expect me not to freak out. Do you know how much I cried last night? My eyes are still red." He had meant to make a joke, but his voice cracked when he said the last sentence.

"There's no reason to cry for me, _chaton._ I'm alright, see?" She stepped back and gestured to herself with a wince.

"I don't suppose I could convince you to de-transform so I could look at your wound?" He looked at her hopefully.

"Not a chance, kitty." She saw him wince, remembering at once that she had said those words to him when she rejected his kisses during the fight against Prime Queen. "Besides," she said, voice taking on a lighter tone. "I'll be healed in a few days."

"Yeah," he muttered. "Thanks to Marinette."

"She's great," Ladybug said coyly.

"Amazing," he agreed. "One of my closest friends since we—since you and I had our little fallout."

"About that—" she started, but he interrupted.

"I'm so sorry—" He took in a deep breath. "I'm sorry I was angry with you. It's just that you seem more concerned with keeping your identity secret than you are with making sure I'm okay."

Here, she cupped his face in her hands. "You know that's not true." He tried to look away, but she pulled his face back to look at hers.

"I…I know. I was just hurt that you rejected me."

"You know what? I promise that someday, you'll get your kiss, kitty." His eyes lit up.

"Really?" He leaned in.

"Bug's honor," she said, crossing her hand over her heart. He leaned closer, trying to cash in on his kiss already. She pushed him away by his nose, saying, "but not today, Chat."

He pouted, reaching a hand up to tickle her side. She laughed a bit, but soon flinched at the pain it caused her side. He leaned over to support her, helping her to the edge, where they both sat for a while in silence.

"Do you think you'll ever be able to have feelings for me, m'lady?" He asked, brushing his fingers against hers.

"I might have some feelings already," she said.

"I mean besides anger," Chat said, causing her to giggle.

Then, slowly, she leaned her head on his shoulder, and that was that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** RockSunner (thank you for mentioning this!) pointed out that Marinette's grandmother shows up on Marinette's birthday and she doesn't in this fic, but lemme explain. I legit just went back and watched Prime Queen. I had forgotten what happens in the surrounding episodes, and I just decided to make Marinette's birthday come next. I didn't even remember that her birthday comes in the next episode, but somehow it all worked out.

Also this chap will probably be happier.

Angst? I don't know her.

Anyhow please review! Makes my day :)

 **Chapter Four**

When Marinette walked into her last class of the day, a strange scene greeted her; Nino was sitting in her seat, arm-wrestling Alya. Marinette tapped Nino on the shoulder. "Uh, guys? I kinda need to sit there."

Neither of them looked at her, but Alya said, "Hey, Marinette. Why don't you sit in Nino's seat today? I bet him I could beat him at arm wrestling."

"Sorry, Marinette," Nino managed to groan through his scrunched up facial muscles. "Twenty bucks at stake here."

Muttering, Marinette went to sit beside Adrien, who brightened up at this new development. "Hi, Marinette!" he said in that high-pitched, cheerful voice he had recently adopted around her.

"Oh, hi, Adrien!" No stuttering! Just a little crack in his name, but that's not unusual for her squeaky voice. Not to mention, she was tired from staying awake for most of the weekend to talk to Chat Noir. "What's up?"

Adrien leaned back in his seat. "Nothing much. I've been hanging out with Nino and Alya a bit more…that is, until they started doing this." He pointed a thumb in their direction. "Lately, Alya will randomly jump in and start arm-wrestling Nino."

"That's…that's not really all that weird for them, I guess. It's good you've been hanging out with them though!" Marinette looked down at her hands, the blush lighting up her cheeks.

"Yeah, I've been getting to know them. I was thinking, though, that I don't really know all that much about you, but I'd like to. Can we hang out sometime?" Did she mishear him?

"You—me—what?" She grinned apologetically for her stuttering. "I mean—sure! When are you free?"

"I'm free after school today," he said, leaning back. She frowned; Chat promised to visit tonight, and that meant she needed to do her homework before he came. But this was Adrien! She couldn't possibly turn him down.

"Okay! How about we play some video games at my house?"

He grinned. "Wow, thank you Marinette. I can't wait!" The bell rang for class to begin, and she sat next to him and tapped her foot for the next hour.

Tom and Sabine were too busy in the kitchen to notice when the pair walked in, so they slipped soundlessly to her room. After a few hours of some generic fighting games, Marinette realized she still hadn't done her homework. She didn't want to just ditch Adrien for _homework,_ though, so she tried bringing it up subtly. She stretched out her arms, yawning audibly.

"Hey, Adrien, I'm kind of tired of video games. What do you say we call it a day?"

He turned off the system. "Can I stay and talk to you for a little while?"

 _He's relentless._ "Uh…sure." She discreetly pulled her binder out to do her homework. He lay on her floor while she sat at her desk, and they talked about Alya, Nino, friendship, and other things that Marinette could practically talk about in her sleep. She glanced at her watch—seven o'clock already? "Hey, Adrien?"

He looked her in the eyes, causing her to lose some confidence. "Yeah?"

"I have a lot of uh, homework to do, you know?" He nodded slowly, like he understood.

"Oh, yeah! I could totally help you with homework." He seemed to know what he was doing, because he sat next to her and watched her face. "You don't really want help, do you?" he asked.

She sighed in defeat. "Can you keep a secret?" She looked into his eyes, for once undaunted by their close proximity.

"Always," he said.

"You can't even tell Nino. Or Alya." She stuck out her pinky for that childish promise.

"I promise I won't tell anyone, Marinette." He smiled convincingly at her, wrapping his pinky around hers, so she told him.

"I have to finish my homework early because Chat Noir visits me at night!" She looked away, waiting for the impact to hit him.

"Aww, Marinette, you're ditching me for that guy?" He didn't sound too unhappy about it. "What does he have that I don't?" She looked at him incredulously.

"What? Nothing. You're both pretty similar, actually." She looked away in thought. "It's nothing to do with your personalities. It's just that I made a promise to see him tonight, and I always keep my promises." She twiddled her thumbs humbly at this last admission.

"I understand," he said smugly. "One last question," and here he grinned devilishly at her. "Do you like him?"

She leaned away as he leaned closer, but she seriously considered the question. _Well, I do really enjoy spending time with him, in and out of my costume. And he's sweet._ "Not romantically," she finally settled in her head. "But he's easily one of my best friends."

Adrien stared at her cryptically. "Well, then, he's a lucky guy. I'll leave you to keep your promise." He gave her a sparse goodbye as he left.

Not even an hour later, Chat Noir was at her door. She had just finished changing her bandage, so she hurriedly hid under her blankets and beckoned to him with her hand. He plopped down on the floor in a similar position to the one Adrien had occupied earlier. "You look tired," she pointed out.

"So do you." He leaned his head back on his hands.

She sighed, sinking down into her bed. "I wish we could talk at any time other than at night. And I wish we could talk while I'm doing homework," she grumbled.

"This is going to sound crazy," he said, eyes twitching wildly. "But I think I can invent something to fix that problem. I'll call it…a cell phone." He made the mind-blown gesture, causing her to bury her head under a pillow and groan.

"And just why would I give you my phone number?" She pulled her head out from under the pillow and smirked at him.

"Marinette, best friends are supposed to text each other, too."

Her eyebrows stood up like a dog and its reflection pushing on each other from either sides of a mirror [is this even a good simile? What even does this mean? I just made it up]. "Since when are we best friends?"

"Since I decided that's what we are." He sat up so that his head was against her nightstand.

She thought about his proposition for a moment. "I don't think it would be best for us to know each other's numbers. What if Hawkmoth finds out that you're texting me? He might target me personally."

Chat sighed. "I hate it when you're right." He reached a clawed hand out to play with the tips of her fingers which hung off the side of the bed.

"But it's okay, Chat; I'm sure you'll get plenty of phone numbers from your adoring fans," she said comfortingly.

"I don't have fans, Marinette. The other day, a group of girls chased me down and when I asked if they wanted my autograph, they said that they just wanted to know where Ladybug was."

Marinette broke out in laughter. "Ahhh, I'm sorry, kitty, but you've got to admit, that's funny."

He smiled fondly. "Yeah…hey, maybe I can get Ladybug's phone number."

For some reason, Marinette's heart gave a little pang at this. "Maybe…"

Chat suddenly flung himself back onto the floor, covering his eyes with his hands. "Marinetttttttte," he whined.

"Hmm?" she asked him.

"I got rejected again today." His lip quivered.

Marinette tried to remember if she had been Ladybug today, but she hadn't. "By Ladybug?"

"No, another girl—"

"There's another girl?!" She squealed.

Chat looked around nervously. "Ah, would you look at the time." He stood to leave, but she grabbed his tail.

"Not so fast, kitty. Sit down and tell me all about this girl." Marinette pulled her legs up so Chat could sit on the far edge of the bed.

"Actually," Chat said apologetically. "I really do have to go. I have patrol…with Ladybug."

It was at that moment that Marinette remembered she was meant to go on patrol tonight.

Once Chat left, Marinette hurriedly dressed her wound in a way more appropriate for movement and threw herself out the window. She met him on a rooftop. "M'lady," he greeted her.

"Hey, Chat."

"So, what are you doing here?" He was sitting on the edge of the building and didn't even look back when she spoke.

"I'm here for patrol." She resisted the urge to add "duh" to the end of the sentence.

"But it's Monday night, m'lady. We patrol on Thursdays, remember?" She could _feel_ his smirk from where she stood.

 _So he lied to me. As Marinette. Nice._ "Oh. Well, Marinette told me you said something about patrolling with me tonight, and I was just so tired that I thought it was—"

"And how did Marinette tell you so fast, Ladybug?" He was playing with her now.

"She, uh, she texted me!" At this, Chat stood up.

"No fair! Why do you get to have Marinette's phone number when I don't?" He pouted like the child he was at heart.

"I gave her my compact number," she said, referring to her yoyo. "Your staff can only dial me, kitty. Remember?" Now it was her turn to smirk.

"Ladybug," he abruptly said, serious. "Can I have your number?"

She put a finger on her chin. "I'll have to think about it."

And suddenly, he was on his knees before her. "Please?" He seemed genuine. "I can't dial you when I'm not in my suit, so we only talk when we're fighting or on patrol."

"How about this…" she started. "I'll give you my civilian phone number, and you can give me yours." His eyes lit up, and he was about to speak, but she placed a finger over his lips. "But you can _only_ text me when there's an emergency, like an akuma."

"But Ladyyyybugggggg," he groaned.

"No 'but's," she said. "Do we have a deal?"

He pretended to think before shaking her outstretched hand. "Deal."

They most certainly did _not_ have a deal.

Marinette knew this when she was awakened by a text from Chat the next day.

 _Wake up purrrrrincess, time to get ready for school_

She typed out her irritated reply:

 _Chat! I told you this is for emergencies only_

 _But there is an emergency_

 _What is it? An akuma?_

 _No…I was worried about your wound. Is it okay?_

… _seriously? Yes its fine_

 _Ok I just wanted to check_

 _Good morning btw_

Marinette sighed. Even though he had already broken their rules, it was endearing. She waited a few moments before hitting send on her text…

 _Good morning chaton :)_

 **Author's Note:**

Uhhhhh they're totally onto each other? Like he _knew_ for a second that she was Ladybug, didn't he? He def acted like it. What happened? Are they out of character? Why did I suddenly decide to make him dumb again? All shall be answered for you soon, my children. Follow me to the light. Rumor has it that I know the way. (Actually, I don't know any of what is going to happen before I sit down to write, but let's not think about that, okay?)


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** Not sure if anyone is still reading this story lol

Got two papers due Friday, definitely not gonna be doing that when I've gotta update for all these adoring fans!

(*imaginary adoring fans screaming*)

 **Chapter Five**

"Alya? Where's Adrien?" Marinette asked, holding the ladder still. Her friend was at the top, painting their class's giant homecoming float.

"Hmm? I think he had a modeling thing." Alya began climbing down the ladder, dripping orange paint from the end of her brush. It was a Saturday, and Marinette wanted to help out with the float as long as she could, but she was definitely getting bored.

"Alright, everybody! It's time for a lunch break," Mrs. Bustier shouted from the doorway. Marinette walked back to her house and Alya left her on the corner, saying something about wrestling Nino.

After finishing her lunch in record time, she trudged up to her room to spend the rest of the hour in peace. Normally, she would enjoy creative projects like the float, but the design had already been chosen by someone else, and no room for creativity was left. She knew this because she had tried to add on a nice little symbol on the side of the float and been banned from using the paintbrushes. Ladder duty was not a fulfilling job.

She glanced down at her phone, contemplating who she could talk to. She missed Adrien, but she also knew that if he had been there, she still would have been bored. His presence was not so much of a Godsend as it had been when she was desperately in love with him. Now…she just enjoyed having him around. He wasn't all that interesting once you got past the pretty face; he just acted like the perfect model he was meant to be. Sometimes, a person is just a person, nothing more, and Marinette had learned not to idealize him so much that she loved his potential more than his reality. So they hung out more and more, and she felt nervous around him less and less.

Regardless, she couldn't text him. He was at some modeling thing. Alya and Nino were probably practicing karate moves on each other in the street—not real martial arts, though. They had made up a challenge in which they looked up a video of a fighting move and then used it on each other, often creating hilarious injuries or positions. So they were out of the question.

She knew everyone else was eating, so that left…Chat. It had been a week since she had given him her phone number, one extremely uneventful week during which they didn't see each other (in costume, anyhow) outside of Thursday night patrol. Marinette had seen Chat plenty, but he was so tired that he hadn't come the night before. And after the first texting incident, he hadn't texted her at all because there had been no emergency. Her fingers itched to type out something casual, something simple and sweet, just to talk to him…

 _No._ She withdrew her hand from the phone.

 _But he won't mind,_ her other inner voice argued. _He enjoys texting you._

She deliberated for a few moments more before grabbing the phone and lying on her stomach. She typed out her message three or four times, erasing the entire thing before she restarted. _Why am I spending so much time? It's just Chat._ Determinedly, she hit send.

 _LB: Hey_

She sat there with her phone in her hands, waiting for his response…and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, until it was time to go back to school. Disappointed, she thought about having to hold the ladder again as she picked up her backpack. But then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the little bubble that meant he was typing. She dove back on the bed and watched eagerly. They wouldn't miss a ladder-holder, right?

 _CN: Whats wrong is there an akuma?_

She giggled a little bit at Chat's response.

 _LB: No, just wanted to talk_

 _CN: Did I do something wrong_

 _LB: What? No_

 _LB: I'm just bored and I wanna talk to you_

 _CN: …really?_

 _LB: Yeah_

 _CN: but what about the rules?_

 _LB: its okay to talk every once in a while_

 _CN: what about calling?_

 _LB: lets not get carried away kitty_

It was hard not to get lost in the banter. She could easily imagine spending entire hours like this, just sitting around, countering his puns and giving witty remarks. In fact, she did spend hours texting him. Three, to be exact, before he interjected.

 _CN: This is fun_

 _LB: Agreed_

 _CN: I wish we could keep talking but I have to go_

 _LB: ah ok_

 _CN: ok ok I'll tell you why but don't freak out_

 _LB: ?_

 _CN: I'm going to surprise a girl_

 _LB: ! wow awesome!_

 _CN: yeah from what I hear, you know her_

 _LB: who_

 _CN: Marinette_

 _LB: I know a few Marinettes youll have to be more specific_

 _CN: oh you know the one that has blue pigtails like you and blue eyes like you_

 _Crap._ He was onto her.

 _LB: oh yeah I know who youre talking about_

 _CN: im going to see her tonight_

 _LB: well best of luck to you kitty, im really glad youre branching out_

He didn't respond. She worried about how much he knew, how he found out, and how she would explain this away. When he showed up at her window a couple of hours later, she was in the middle of a practice explanation. He let himself in coolly and sat on her desk chair. Thinking quickly, she changed Chat Noir's name in her phone to "Mary," in case he were to look over and see. He glanced at her lightning fast fingers and sighed.

"There's no use trying to hide it, Marinette," he said. "I already know."

She slumped defeatedly. "How did you find out?"

"I mean it's obvious. The text messages are written like they're from you." Here Marinette didn't reply. "I tried making 'Ladybug' jealous with the messages to see if you would own up to it, but you didn't."

"Own up?" she asked. She wasn't entirely sure that they had the same idea about what was going on.

"Yeah. Ladybug clearly gave me your phone number instead of hers." Okay, he's dumb, but at least he doesn't know her secret. Still, he looked crushed. "And as much as I love talking to you, Marinette, it hurts that she rejects me so often." She knew then that she needed to lie.

"I don't have your number, Chat," she murmured. "Check through my contacts if you don't believe me." He did, scrolling through the list of names she rarely contacted.

"I can't believe this," he said, standing with newfound joy. "She really gave me her number!"

"Yeah, yeah," Marinette muttered, turning over in bed and placing a pillow over her ears. "Why don't you go home and text her to your heart's content?"

Chat peeked over the pillows to give her a sly grin. "Are you…jealous, _purrrrr_ incess?"

 _Yeah, jealous of myself._ "Duh, you get to text Ladybug," she deadpanned.

He snickered. "Are you sure you're okay with it if I leave early to text her?"

She closed her eyes. "Absolutely, just go away so I can SLEEP." He smiled at her childishness, leaning down to kiss her forehead like he usually did, so excited that he left immediately. She sat there stunned for a few minutes. This was the first time he had done that while she was awake.

…

Adrien was 99% sure that Marinette was Ladybug. He wasn't as stupid as he acted. But he was going to let this play out for as long as possible. Just to be sure he wasn't wrong, he waited outside of Marinette's room for a few extra minutes, hidden in the darkness. He finally texted her, telling her that he missed her (Ladybug, of course), and she immediately responded. He got to watch her screen light up and her face brighten when she typed her "miss you too" back.

 _Then come patrol with me_ was his reply.

 _Idk chat I'm kind of tired_

 _What about tomorrow night mlady_

 _Okay, sure. But only if you promise not to wake me up with a text tomorrow_

 _Cat's honor, bugaboo. Goodnight 3_

But he watched her nod off to sleep before she could reply. He was definitely going to mess with her while he knew her secret. But for now, he thought about what he knew. Marinette had told Chat she had a crush on Adrien. If Marinette is Ladybug…then Ladybug likes Adrien. Ladybug likes Adrien. _Ladybug likes Adrien, holy cow._

…

He walked into the bakery the next day at ten in the morning, being sure to come later than he normally would because he wanted her to get a good night's rest. The little bell on the door rang as he entered, signaling for Sabine to approach the customer. "Hi, Mrs. Cheng. Is Marinette here?" he asked, casually perusing the pastries. Sabine lit up surprisingly, like your television when you sit on the remote unknowingly.

"Yes, dear, she's upstairs. Let me go tell her she has company." He watched her small form disappear up the stairs as Tom rounded the corner with a plate full of croissants. Adrien's mouth began to water… "She's upstairs, still sleeping. But go ahead in, I'm sure she'll wake up when she sees you," Sabine said cryptically.

He practically ran up the stairs to her room. Once inside, he watched her for a moment. She was sort of scary when she was asleep—even though her features were still as beautiful as ever, her hair was sticking out everywhere and she had some drool. He laughed a bit before shaking her shoulder to awaken her. She sat up straight in a panic, then panicked even more when he caught her eye. She looked at her hands which had dried up blood on them.

He glanced down at her sheet, where blood was dried up, having seeped through the side of her tank top. "Oh my goodness, Marinette! Are you okay? What happened?"

But instead of responding, she let out a wail.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** I have been awake for so long that this may very well make zero sense. A lot of the ideas in this chapter came from my friend **Diana**! Enjoy. Also, s_u_f_f_e_r

 **Chapter Six**

Marinette fell back down onto her bed, clutching her side. The pain was unbearable, and the blood was everywhere. Adrien rushed to her side, freezing when he heard Mrs. Cheng's voice from downstairs.

"Everything okay up there?"

Adrien turned away to shout his reply. "Yes, ma'am! I just scared her." Marinette was in too much pain to notice that Adrien knew he couldn't tell her parents about the wound. "Don't worry, Marinette. I'll go get help." She reached out to stop him but was unable to even snatch his tail before he jumped out the window.

Chat Noir came through her window a few moments later, concern all over his face. "Marinette, what happened?"

"I fell off a ladder yesterday at school," she lied. "And I forgot to change my bandages before bed last night." _Because I was distracted by your visit,_ she added in her head.

"It looks infected," he squeaked out, squeezing her hand with worry as he helped her sit up. "Let me take you to a doctor."

He started to yank on her arm, but she pulled back emphatically. "NO! I mean, I didn't tell my parents, and if they find out…" she looked down. "They might not allow me to help out on weekends anymore."

"Marinette, your health is more important than that." He gave her a stern look, but she whimpered, grasping her side. "Fine," he said, thinking back to what Tikki had told him about finding that Master Fu. "I know somewhere we can go. But we need to get you cleaned up and sneak you out."

He led her to the bathroom, where he cleaned her wound gently, growing frustrated. Why couldn't she just tell him she was Ladybug? He held her in his arms as he jumped off the balcony and toward Master Fu's place.

…

By the time they reached Master Fu's place, Marinette had wilted in Chat's arms. He pounded on Master Fu's door until he let them in, yanking him by the tail harshly. Chat had figured out that he was the man that was meant to take care of him and Ladybug from Ladybug's cryptic comments. "What are you doing out in the open like—"

Chat placed Marinette on the floor, carefully. "Who is this random girl—" Master Fu began again, but Chat interrupted him.

"I already know, so you don't have to pretend." Chat sounded more irritated than anything.

"But…how?" Master Fu's jaw was digging a hole in the floor.

"It's not important. Can you please help her?" The black cat put his hands in his hair in a stressed out gesture. "Her wound is infected, I think."

Master Fu rolled up Marinette's shirt just far enough to see the greenish wound. He pulled out a salve, the same one he had used the last time he worked on the wound, and went to work.

"So," Master Fu began, not looking up. "Does she know that you're Adrien?"

"No," he said. "I wish. I wish we could just tell each other and be done. But she won't let us know each other's secret identities, even though I already know hers." He sighed frustratedly.

"You'll both find out," Fu said.

"How do you know?" Adrien looked hopeful.

"All the Ladybugs eventually tell their Chat Noir."

"But how?" Chat's voice grew louder. "What do I do to make her see that it's me?"

"Start acting the same as Adrien and Chat Noir. There," Fu said, wiping his hands off. "She should heal up in a few days. The only issue is…she needs to wear the suit for long times if possible, because her suit has healing properties that could prevent this from happening again." Chat nodded, picking her up again. Master Fu quickly explained everything to Tikki so she could tell Marinette.

"Thank you," Chat said, saluting the old guardian.

…

He carried Marinette to her room and laid her in her bed, careful to walk back in as Adrien and shake her awake in the same manner he had before. He wanted her to think it had all been a dream. She sat awake, having a déjà vu moment. "Adrien?"

"Hey, Marinette. I just decided to visit you today. Alya told me you were asking about me?" He placed a hand on the back of his neck sheepishly.

 _I'm going to kill her,_ Marinette thought. "Oh, yeah, I was uh worried about you since you didn't show ahahahah."

Adrien smiled at her fondly. "I just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing. Alya also told me you didn't come back yesterday after lunch, and then _I_ was worried about _you._ " Marinette blushed scarlet at this.

"Nothing to worry about, really," she said, looking anywhere but his face. They talked for a while, arguing over whether or not she really was something to be worried about, until he said he had to leave for another shoot.

He grabbed her hand and kissed it in a very Chat-Noir-esque way, looking up at her from under his lashes as he straightened his posture. She could feel her familiar love for him returning, and she had to wonder why. He sure was acting a lot like Chat Noir lately…no, that's definitely not why. No way. "See you later, _Mari._ " He left with a wave.

As soon as he was gone, Tikki flew towards Marinette. "Marinette! The only way for you to heal is to wear your suit as long as possible. It heals wounds."

"Why are you just now telling me this, Tikki?"

"I just remembered it?" She sounded questionable, but Marinette let it slide. She was exhausted.

"Would it be wise to take a nap while wearing the suit?"

Tikki shook her head no. "You need to stay awake. If your parents walk in…"

"Ughhhhhhhhh. I guess I'll go chill on a rooftop or something then." Marinette languidly grabbed her day clothes and went to put them on, pausing at her dresser, where she saw a sheet of paper. It read:

 _Chat Noir was here_

And had a bunch of hearts and paw print doodles. She rolled her eyes.

…

She had been sleeping on a random rooftop for quite a while after telling her parents she was going to go chill out in nature. She was awakened by some chirping birds at around 8:30 p.m., so she went home as Marinette, locked her door and pretended to go to bed, when she really was going to leave and go back to that rooftop. She had been lying there, asleep, for roughly two hours before he showed up. Chat decided it would be a good idea to lie beside her when he came for patrol, watching the rise and fall of her shoulders and the way her hair moved when she breathed. He didn't bother to wake her up, opting instead to stargaze while she got her rest. It wasn't too long before he felt her hand on his arm. Without opening her eyes, she turned onto her side and yawned a "good morning" to him. He chuckled.

"It's not quite morning yet, Bugaboo." He smiled at the stars.

"Chat, I really don't feel like patrolling tonight." She snuggled closer without noticing. He scooted away.

"Totally understandable, m'lady. Would you like me to escort you home?" He offered her his arm, which she gladly took.

"No. Stay here." Her eyes fluttered shut once again, and this time, his did, too. When she got up to leave an hour later, she kissed his forehead this time.

And then he was sure.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Y'all are all pointing out stuff that I didn't even realize I was doing lol but I have read all the reviews and am planning to listen to youse guise okie? I love the reviews btw thanks so much it means a lot! Need all the writing help I can get. Here's another chapter. This chapter is really way better than my other stuff, and that's because some of my regular writing skills came in. I have a hard time writing characters I didn't create because it is hard to get into the dynamic, but I think I finally have it down. So my real writing style comes out here.

 **RECOMMENDATION:** if you want to really FEEL this chapter, I'd recommend listening to the _Life is Strange_ video game soundtrack instrumental. It's awesome and fits the mood of this chapter pretty well.

 **Chapter Seven**

"Hey, _Buginette._ "

It echoed in her ears for a long time before she replied. Staring at him, confusedly, her mouth opened just the slightest bit. "Hey… _what?_ "

"Oh, Buginette? It's just a nickname I came up for you, since you look a little bit like Ladybug." Adrien smirked a bit at her but tried to tone it all down. He couldn't outright tell her that he knew because she didn't want her identity to be known. The night before, he had tossed and turned, trying to think of a way to make her confess her identity. He finally came up with a plan—he would make her realize Adrien was Chat Noir, and then he would propose that it was unfair for her to know his identity when he didn't know hers, so she would have to tell him because she is all about fairness. Surprisingly enough, he knew this about her from knowing _Marinette,_ not Ladybug.

"Really?"

"Yeah, you're both so beautiful I could _spot_ you in a crowd." Here, he showed Chat Noir's signature toothy half-smile. He had really been punning it up in front of Marinette for the past few days.

Inside Marinette's head, there were police sirens. All the little workers in her brain were running in circles, and the one named "Reason" just got run over by a firetruck, which was rushing to put out the alarming fiery blush that had spread to Marinette's face. Even though she was nervous as all get-out, she couldn't keep the smile off her face, but she knew if she accepted the compliment, "Humility" would be fired. She looked down, fighting her mouth back into place and letting out an involuntary laugh.

Egged on by her reaction, Adrien continued. "And you even act like her; you're both kind, brave, and have a thing for black cats." He winked at her, which was enough to light her face on fire all over again, as well as her heart. If "Reason" were still alive— _may his soul rest in peace_ —he might have husked the fire out. Unfortunately, Marinette was forced to pull her shirt up over her face and pull her knees up to hide it all, which attracted the attention of Nino and Alya as well. The arrangement that forced Marinette to sit with Adrien was a pretty much permanent one, because, according to Alya, Nino liked to start his day with "a knuckle sandwich and a big helping of beat-down." Although Marinette found it worrying that the duo showed their undying love by trying to kill each other with mild fighting, she didn't want to disapprove and have to "feel the love" as well, since she had just healed up completely from her last wound.

Alya and Nino stopped their intense thumb wrestling match to watch the exchange between their less-violent friends. Adrien was glancing at his perfectly-manicured hands, and Marinette was doing her best impression of a sentient tomato folded into an invisible box. Her cheeks grew even redder as she folded in on herself, and Adrien ruthlessly punned away.

 _When did he become interesting again?_ Marinette thought. Even Nino seemed stunned by Adrien's lack of perfect attentiveness. Marinette sat through class with her face hidden and forgot to take notes. When there were five minutes left in class, Mrs. Bustier allowed the students to talk. Alya dove in Nino's direction, threatening him lovingly. Adrien turned to Marinette.

"I'm kind of having second thoughts about the name. There's so many things I could call you, you know? I could say, 'Marinette,' or I could shorten it to 'Mari,'" and with every nickname, he leaned in closer. "Or, I could say, _'m'lady.'"_

The firetruck finally reached its destination, and Marinette blanched. She stared at Adrien, open-mouthed. He knew that he had gone too far—she might know that he knew her identity now. "Get it? M'lady…Ladybug? Since you're so alike?" He laughed a little bit. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good one, Adrien," she said as the bell rang. She grabbed her bag and headed towards the door, narrowly avoiding Alya and Nino's mobile fight. Adrien ran after her.

"Marinette, wait up!" He caught up with her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Can we hang out at your house again today?"

Marinette sighed, barely stopping herself from saying what she was thinking— _Anything for you._ Yeah, she had it bad. "We can't really go to my house because my parents are having some visitors over. I was going to hang out at the Smoothie Booth for a while, if you wanted to come."

"Yeah, that sounds great! Let me just message Nathalie." He pulled out his phone.

"Uh, who's Nathalie?" Translation: _Do you like her?_

"My father's assistant," he said cheerily, not noticing her tone, which was very Adrien-esque of him. "She normally picks me up, but I am going to tell her not to today."

"You don't have to ask your dad?" She knew his dad was strict, so she worried that he may get in trouble.

"No, he's away for a business trip," he said, sliding an arm around her shoulders in a way that sent a chill up Marinette's spine. What was he doing?

"Oh, how long?" She turned at her locker, causing his arm to fall off. Her skin burned where the weight had been.

"Well, it was originally meant to be a month and a half, but then he came home after a month. I didn't know he came home because I was at your birthday party, but he left again the next day and has been gone since then." Adrien shrugged sheepishly, activating Marinette's Motherly InstinctsTM and causing her to give him that look of pity he secretly hated.

"Adrien, I'm sorry your father is never home." He closed his eyes and put his hand on the back of his neck, going into Chat mode.

"No—it's fine! It's actually better when he isn't home." He laughed a bit, but Marinette wasn't convinced. In a bold move, she grabbed his hand to pull him behind her.

"Let's go get a smoothie," she said determinedly.

Adrien felt all of the Chat Noir bravado drain out of him. Here was this girl with blue pigtails and blue eyes, who tripped walking on level ground and could hardly speak in his presence, who couldn't be Ladybug but she absolutely _was,_ who was holding his hand and pulling him heart-first into her world. He felt that lovesick smile on his face before he could stop it, and he realized that he had been wrong. He didn't love Ladybug. Ladybug was justice personified, protector of Paris, and, up until just recently, the girl he was madly in love with. But she wasn't that girl— _here_ was that girl, right in front of him just like she had been this entire time, and though he had started falling in love with the miracle beneath the mask a long time ago, he was just now realizing that she was a miracle in whatever form he found her. He tightened his grip on her hand and caught up with her, smiling down at her from beside her. Unstoppable.

…

They stood in line at the smoothie shop, and it took Marinette a surprisingly long time to realize that Adrien hadn't let go of her hand the entire time they were there. Adrien ordered them two smoothies and paid so they could sit in the high booths. He sat across from her and fiddled with his straw for a bit before finally looking up at her eyes.

"So…" He said, awkwardly.

"So…" Marinette swirled her straw in her smoothie.

"Wanna play a game?"

"Uh…sure."

"Okay, it's a game to get to know each other. We just take turns asking questions. If you skip answering a question, you have to take a sip of your smoothie." He said this last bit as if it were supposed to be upsetting. Marinette felt herself letting loose.

"That's the lamest drinking game I have ever heard of," she snorted. He laughed ridiculously hard. Her joke reminded him that he was supposed to be acting like Chat, but he felt so intimidated by her that he almost couldn't do it. Here, he wasn't behind the mask. He was Adrien, and they saw each other every day, so there was no way for him to avoid confrontation for his actions.

"Alright, then I'll ask all the questions and you'll be left in the dark, _Buginette._ " This time, she didn't blush as hard.

"I was only kidding. But those stakes are a little high. We wouldn't want to get drunk on fruit smoothies and not be able to get home!" She was giggling at her own joke again, and he found it insanely cute. Ladybug didn't even do this, and she was much more laid-back than Marinette.

"Fine, how's this; if you refuse to answer a question, _I_ get a sip of your smoothie." She looked mock offended at his request, but she stuck out her tongue at him.

"Deal! And if you won't answer my question, I get a sip of yours." He grinned at her, watching the flare of her button nose.

"Alright," he started. "But I'm going to be asking some very personal questions. Are you sure you can handle it?"

"Please! I'll ask even more personal questions." She crossed her arms.

"Oh, then by all means, you go first." He smirked as her face lost color and her eyes looked everywhere but him.

"Uh—uh—what's your favorite color?" She blurted out, and he laughed so hard he had to wait five minutes to answer.

The rest of their evening went that way, laughs and slurps and dumb questions. Adrien got several sips of Marinette's smoothie, but Marinette never got to taste his. By the time they finished their smoothies, he offered to walk her home, and they stumbled, drunk on laughter and love. She leaned on his arm as she told him a really funny story, and he laughed before she even began because she was already giggling.

"So there's this girl," she started, giggling a little bit. "And she was crying. So I went up to her and asked her what was wrong, and she said someone wrote something mean in her YEARBOOK!" The last word came out really loud because she started laughing. "I looked at it, and it just said 'HAG.' Come to find out, someone meant to write 'HAGS,' for 'Have A Great Summer,' but they forgot the s!" Adrien and Marinette both cry-laughed.

They stopped just outside the bakery. "I had a lot of fun today, I hope we can do it again sometime…that is, if you had fun, too." Adrien fidgeted a little bit, nervous for perhaps the first time about talking to the blue-haired girl.

"Are you kidding? I had tons of fun! Nothing could make this day better." She smiled up at him, erasing any doubt. They shared a quick hug, both of them laughing awkwardly until it was over. He placed his hands in his pockets to subdue the urge he had to touch her hair.

Adrien knew _exactly_ how to make her day better.

…

Marinette heard a knock at her window shortly after night fell. She had been reading in her room, too emotionally wired to fall asleep. She grinned even wider and even let Chat in herself this time.

"What's with the smile, _purrrrincess?_ " He started to sit on her floor, but she motioned for him to sit on the end of her bed. He plopped down, crisscross applesauce, and immediately began scratching at her blanket like the cat he was. His Lady was too enraptured to scold him.

"I'm in love! I'm ridiculously in love." She fell back onto her bed, smile growing wider as she closed her eyes.

"Aww, I'm in love with you, too, princess," Chat said cheekily.

"Not with you!" Marinette didn't even open her eyes.

"Is it that Adrien guy you told me about before?" He drummed his fingers on his legs, waiting for her answer, but none came. "What does he have that I don't?"

She thought back to when Adrien had asked her that same thing in reference to Chat. Boldly, she said, "You're a lot like him, actually. Blond hair, green eyes, tall."

"Ah," he muttered, looking down. "You only like him because he's hot."

She sat straight up and stuttered. "Cha—Chat!—I like him for so much more than that."

"Like what?" he challenged, looking her in the eyes.

"He's funny, like he's always using puns, and he is really sweet and courteous and holds all the doors open for me and—"

"So basically, he's me?" Her jaw dropped when he said that. "What? Those are all qualities of yours truly."

"Yeah, but it's different." She looked away. "There's a reason I don't like you, even though you're just like him."

"What's the reason?" Very tongue-in-cheek, Chat Noir.

"Well, you're Ladybug's guy. I don't wanna step on any toes here." He laughed at the irony of her statement.

"If I liked Ladybug—"

"You do like Ladybug," Marinette deadpanned.

"I'd be dating her right now."

"How can you be so sure, kitty?"

"I think I know her better than you do. Since we made up, she's been head-over-heels for me."

Marinette snorted. "No she hasn't."

"And how can you be so sure, _Mari?_ " He smiled; he had her there.

"I, uh, we text!"

"So? I text her all the time, _and_ I see her almost daily." His smirk frustrated her.

"Fine, I believe you. Why don't you like her?" Marinette rolled her eyes while she said this.

"I've got a thing for someone else," he said, immediately regretting it.

"Oh yeah! Tell me about that girl you mentioned before." It was her turn to smirk now.

"NopesorrygottagopatrolwithLadybugbye!" He leapt out the window, leaving her alone. Tikki came out from her hiding place to smile at Marinette.

"That won't work on me this time." She winked at her kwami.

"But, Marinette, you really DO have patrol tonight!" At Tikki's words, Marinette glimpsed up at her calendar; it was Thursday night.

…

She met Chat on their favorite rooftop. Her plan to mess with him was going to be risky but worth it. She walked up behind him, placing her hands over her eyes and saying, "Guess who?"

"Ooh! Is it Santa Claus?" He giddily turned around, pretending to be disappointed. "Oh. It's just you."

"Hi," she said, taking a deep breath. "Chat, there's something I've been meaning to tell you." He perked up, and she began again. "It's been so hard to say this because I have gone over it so many times in my mind. I can't find the right words. I've wanted to tell you from the beginning, ever since we became partners and friends. It's weighed so heavy on my heart to keep this from you, because I know that once I tell you everything will be perfect. I just don't know how you'll react, because I know you may not have ever felt this way, and if you don't feel this way, I understand. I guess I'll just say it."

There was absolutely no way she was confessing to him, right after he just told her (albeit her civilian form) that he didn't like her.

"I'm in love with this guy from my school." He gave her an irritated look at that, and she burst with laughter. He decided to get her back.

"Well it must be my civilian form, then." He combed back his hair with a clawed hand, winking. "What school do you go to?"

"Nice try kitty. This guy—"

"He's blond, tall, got green eyes," Chat intoned.

"Yes," she said, frowning. "How did you know?"

"I just described myself, m'lady. And I think you just admitted that it was me."

"Yeah, no. You just happen to look and act like Adrien."

"Woah, his name is Adrien? That's not good." Chat made a worried face.

"What's wrong with his name?" Ladybug said defensively.

"No, it's not that. It sounds like you and Marinette are in love with the same guy. She also likes a guy with those qualities named Adrien. I wonder which one of you he will choose?"

Ladybug had dug a proverbial hole for herself, and Chat had just filled it in with dirt while she was still in it.

"He'd probably choose Marinette," Ladybug said, pretending to be sad. "He doesn't even notice me." Now her tactic was to pretend and be someone in Marinette's class that was unpopular? This was not well-thought-out.

"I'll make you a deal. If you'll try and get Adrien to notice you more, then I'll make Marinette fall in love with me instead." Chat closed his eyes, voice growing cockier as the sentence went on.

Ladybug snorted. "And just how are you going to do that, _chaton?_ "

"Easy. The same way she made me fall in love with her. I just need to be myself." He flashed a grin after dropping that bomb on her.

"Wait a minute…you love Marinette?" She was flabbergasted.

"Duh. She's awesome." He said the next part deliberately slow. "She's kind, and brave, and I think she has a thing for black cats like me." It went right over her head.

"Well…" Ladybug was at a loss for words. She had seriously considered the prospect of her and Chat Noir before, but that was before Adrien started…well, before Adrien started acting like Chat Noir, actually. So did that mean…which one of them did she really like? "I'm sorry she likes someone else, kitty," she finally finished. He grinned.

"Not for long."

 **Author's Note:**

Yeah I know, "unstoppable" was used in the show, I just remembered that moment.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the gap guys I had an exam and also I had to procrastinate studying by playing a vidya games. Anywho heres your fluff

 **Chapter 8**

Marinette snipped away at the black fabric. Chat Noir leaned over her shoulder, waiting a beat before he spoke. "Whatcha doin there, _purrrincess_?" Marinette jumped.

"Chat! Don't scare me like that," she said, expecting a witty reply.

Instead, Chat said, "I'm sorry, m'lady. It won't happen again." No wink, no pun…strange. "So," he continued, leaning his head back onto her shoulder. "What are you up to?"

She stiffened at the weight of his chin but stayed in place, pulling her sewing needle through the small hole she had created. "I'm making my costume for tomorrow."

"What's tomorrow, _Mari?_ " He put his arms around her waist and laced his hands together.

She turned around in his arms, which stayed put when she was facing him. "Chat, are you akumatized right now?"

He frowned. "No, m'lady. Why do you say that?"

"You're being awfully touchy-feely tonight, _chaton."_

He backed away, staying a few feet from her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he said, looking down.

But Marinette reached out for his hand. "I didn't say I don't like it," she murmured, positioning his hands where they were and going back to work. "Tomorrow is the masquerade dance. And I," here, she pulled her dress out to show Chat. "Am going as 'Lady Chat Noir.'"

He giggled. The bodice of the dress was made out of a leather corset, and it had long black satin sleeves and a black satin skirt that would reach down to her ankles. She planned to wear black ballet flats and a black mask, as well as a small black choker with a bell on it. And cat ears. "Why dress as me?"

"Why not?"

"Fair point," he said, lowering his chin onto her shoulder again. "Do you have a date to the dance, m'lady?"

"I haven't been asked," she said.

"What if I asked you? Could I go?" He smirked, knowing she'd bop him upside the head for such a stupid question. Instead, she seemed to think about it.

"I suppose. As long as you stay in costume the whole night. We'd definitely match," she said, feeling her cheeks growing redder by the second.

"I can't believe you'd agree to that, _Mari._ I thought for sure that you'd think it would be to noticeable."

"I don't mind," she said, shrugging. He wished he could see her face better.

"What about Adrien?" He held his breath.

"He definitely wouldn't ask me. I doubt he is even going," she muttered.

"You'd like it better if it were him, wouldn't you?"

She turned around to face him. "Don't say that, _chaton_." She scratched under his chin. "You know I'd love to go with you as well."

"No, I didn't, actually. I didn't think you liked me at all, like, even as an acquaintance?" He smiled at her flustered expression and broke out laughing when she began speaking.

"You're pushing it, kitty." He backed away, hands up in the air.

"Okay, okay. My bad." He twiddled his thumbs. "Can I see what the dress looks like on you?"

"Not until tomorrow night," she said.

"Marinetttttttttte," he whined. "Why wait until tomorrow?"

"To ensure you'll show up," she giggled.

"Of course, I'll show up. Don't worry about that part, _Buginette."_

…

Marinette stood nervously on the street corner, gripping her silver clutch in clammy hands. Chat Noir was always early, so she was worried about him. She looked at her phone—7:00 p.m. When she looked back up, though, he was standing in front of her. He looked incredibly worried, eyebrows drawn up in his freaked-out face.

"Sorry I'm late! I went to get you a croissant—I MEAN—corsage? Yeah, corsage, but they didn't have straight up black so I went to a different store and also, I didn't know what I was doing anyway and—"

She cut him off with a giggle. "It's okay," she said, taking the corsage from the box and putting it on her wrist. He was wearing a tuxedo over his superhero suit, which should have looked ridiculous, but he actually managed to make it look good. "Thank you." She smiled gently at him, tucking in his boutonniere. "Can't believe you got all dressed up."

"Oh this old thing?" he pulled at the tux. "It's my everyday civilian outfit. I just put it on after I transformed this time." He flashed her a cheeky grin, eyes never leaving her face. She saw sweat forming at his temples.

"Is it hot in both outfits or something?" She laughed as they began walking toward the dance.

"Huh? No, I just, I uh—I just realized you look really, really pretty and now my brain isn't working." He pulled at his tie.

She threw her head back and laughed. "If you like me, you should see yourself."

He blushed, which was weird because he knew if he were Adrien right now, she would be the one blushing. They entered together, her arm looped through his. All eyes flitted to Chat and lingered on Marinette. Her hair was down in light curls, bangs in wayward disarray in the way Chat's usually is. Chat's hair was combed down, tightly sprayed into place.

They went straight to the dance floor, where they slow danced for…for way too long, actually. Who was in charge of music? Marinette glanced over and saw Nino manning the DJ station. Figures. He gave them a thumbs-up. Alya took a picture of the duo, gushing incoherently. Chat spun Marinette around, pulling her closer to the snacks. When they finally sat down, Nino walked over, having switched out with someone else.

"Dude, I thought you said you couldn't come?" Nino said, twanging the bill of his ever-present hat.

"You know Chat Noir?" Marinette asked, leaning across Chat.

"Good one, Marinette." Nino stood up and laughed as he walked away to find Alya.

Marinette glanced at Chat Noir. He _did_ kind of look like Adrien when his hair was combed like this…but she knew it wasn't him. After Alya came over to congratulate Marinette on scoring "Adrien" as a date and to wheedle a debriefing out of the blue-haired girl, Marinette and Chat went out onto the venue's balcony.

"I'm sorry you keep being mistaken for Adrien, Chat," Marinette said, sorrowfully. "Do you want to tell everyone that you're actually Chat?"

"No," he said, smiling down at her. "It's better this way, anyway."

"How so?" She leaned closer to him.

"You can pretend I'm Adrien so you'll have more fun. It'll be just like the real deal." He looked away.

"But, Chat, I don't want you to be Adrien…I want you to be you." She also looked at the ground.

"You don't have to say that just because I'm standing right here, Marinette." He pulled her hand from the railing, pressing a small kiss to the back of her hand. "I know you have a crush on the guy."

"I'm serious, Chat. I would rather it be you."

He smirked at her. "So you have a crush on me then?"

"Chat…"

"You _like_ me!"

"Stop it!"

"Just admit it, _Mari._ You have a thing for black cats!"

Here, she paused. "Why do I keep hearing that?"

"I mean," he said, shaking the bell on her choker and gesturing to the rest of her outfit. "It's kind of obvious."

"You're just jealous that I pull it off better than you," she said, an accusatory finger pointing at his chest.

"Oh my goodness," he said, sounding so convincingly frightened that Marinette looked around for a second. "Marinette, are you Chat Noir?"

She rolled her eyes. "And what makes me Chat Noir?"

"Hmmm. Really cute," he numbered on his fingers. "Check. Messy hair, check—"

She cut him off. "You're not that cute. But you _do_ have messy hair," she said.

"No I—" She messed up his hair, laughing at his shocked expression. "Oh, you are gonna pay for that." He chased her around the balcony, tickling her.

"Okay, okay, MERCY!" She was leaned against the wall, breathless from tickles.

He was directly in front of her. "About time," he said, examining his nails. "I was thinking I was going to have to do something drastic to get the truth out of ya."

"Like what?" She said, suddenly realizing their proximity.

"Jump off a building," he said, eyes sparkling with mirth. "De-transform in front of you. Steal a kiss…"

She turned bright red. "A kiss?"

He kept going, unfazed. "Confess my undying love for you."

She laughed awkwardly. "Oh, you were joking."

"Yeah, we'll go with that." He laughed. "I'm making you uncomfortable, aren't I?" He asked, pulling away.

"No, no! I just…I'm kind of still stuck on my crush on Adrien, you know?" She looked down sheepishly.

"I know what you mean. I had to get over my crush on Ladybug," he said, tongue-in-cheek.

"I wouldn't—" she cleared her throat. "I wouldn't mind giving you a kiss."

He smiled. "You don't have to, Marinette."

But she was determined. Her lips landed on his cheek, softly yet sharply, and he jumped from the shock. "Sorry! I've just never kissed anyone before, not even on the cheek—" she yelled.

"Marinette, it's okay. Thank you." He gathered her in a hug.

"For what?"

"For the kiss. It was my first one as well." She opened her mouth to reply, but soon it was shut.

As always, something had to interrupt them.

A roar sounded from across Paris, breaking the two apart.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note:** I guess we're back to regular update time. Please leave reviews you guys!

 **Chapter Nine**

Marinette looked up at Chat. "You have to go, don't you?" She asked, hands on his shoulders.

"Unfortunately. Meet me back here afterward?"

"Sure. I'll go inside to safety," she said, turning and running back inside. Moments later, Ladybug appeared, and Chat smirked a little before turning to face the akumatized victim. The woman was in a long blue dress with a magic wand in her hand. She turned to the duo, her masquerade ball mask still on. Both heroes gasped; it was Rose, or "Roserella," according to Hawkmoth. She zapped one of the partygoers and turned her into a pumpkin.

"I didn't get my perfect night, and now none of you will!" She yelled, zapping in Ladybug's direction.

Ladybug dove towards Chat instead of her usual instinct to dive away from him, and he slyly caught her, maneuvering them around the corner and away from the villain. Ladybug had a small cut under her left eye from where she had scraped against the brick roof, but nothing too bad.

"Alright," he said. "What's the plan?"

"You take the right and rip the wand from her hands, I'll go around behind and cover her eyes." Ladybug readied her yoyo, but Chat grabbed her forearm with a smirk.

"Anyway we could put in a part where I get to save Marinette?"

Ladybug smiled at him, and his heart stopped. "She doesn't need saving." And here she jumped off the building. _No,_ he thought. _She doesn't._

Ladybug used her lucky charm to create a piece of fabric, which she promptly pulled around Roserella's eyes. Chat grabbed the wand, tossing it to Ladybug, who broke it in half and snatched the akuma. They did their fist-bump before Ladybug bounded away to de-transform. Chat watched as she ran away from their agreed meeting place. He guided Rose back to the dance and stood on the balcony, holding a flower from the vase in the dance hall. He heard her feet touch down behind him moments later, felt the weight of her hands tugging on his arm. He turned to see her standing behind him, mask back on.

She slid down against the wall, and he followed suit. "You know," she said, pulling off her mask. "Besides the fashion aspect, I'm not really into these dance thingies."

"Yeah, me neither." He glanced up at her. "Man, I wish I could take my mask off, too." They both chuckled.

"I wish you could, too." She put her hand down next to his, just barely touching it. "I think I'm just into doing nothing while dressed up."

"I have an idea," Chat interjected. "Can I borrow your mask?"

"What? Why?" She pulled the mask closer to her chest.

"I want to de-transform and hold your hand." Reluctantly, she gave him the mask.

"Are you sure it'll work?"

"Yeah; I'm wearing a suit, remember?" She nodded.

"Just for good measure," she said, "I'll close my eyes."

"Okay. Claws out!" When Plagg appeared, the kwami rolled his eyes. "Uh, hi, Plagg. Does the mask hide my identity well enough?"

"I'd say so. Look, you've gotta stop using the suit for your romantic escapades." The tiny god said. "It's not against the rules or anything, it's just EXTREMELY annoying."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll pay you in cheese later. Could you give us some privacy?" The kwami rolled his eyes again at this but fluttered off nonetheless.

"Marinette, you can open your eyes." She peeked up through her fingers at his masked form.

"Wow," she said. "You still look like Chat. Just, without the leather on your neck and hands." She leaned closer. "So that means I can…" She grabbed his hand, getting near his face. Thinking he was going to receive a kiss, the black cat closed his eyes. "…do THIS!"

She started tickling his sides. He yelled out his protests, but nothing worked until, "The MASK, Marinette! It'll fall off." Grumbling, she sat back down, crossing her arms. He turned back to her, coaxing her hand back out for him to hold. "I have to get to patrol soon, princess."

She sucked in a breath and held it there as the light cast a shadow on his jawline. "I don't think Ladybug will mind if you hang out with me," she said coyly.

He chuckled, eyes closing carefreely. "Oh, she definitely doesn't care about what I'm doing, but she WILL be upset if I ditch patrol."

"Hey, Ladybug does care about what you're doing. Why would you say that?" Marinette squirmed as she said this.

"She's interested in someone else. Which is fine, because I am, too," he corrected. "But I still want to be her friend."

"You know what?" Marinette asked, pulling Chat with her as she stood. "Ask her about it at patrol."

…

"Hey, Bugaboo. Spoken to Adrien lately?" He smirked at Ladybug.

"No," she groaned. "I've barely spoken to him for the past two weeks!" She put her head in her hands.

Adrien had made a point to avoid Marinette during school (not harshly; he just didn't talk to her as much). He wanted to shift her feelings to Chat Noir because that was the real him. He'd rather she be in love with Chat than Adrien for that reason.

"Aww, I'm sorry." He was sincere; he hated that it was bothering her. But he knew he had to do this if he wanted the reveal to be good.

"How are things with Marinette?" She asked, trying to seem disinterested. Apparently, she was interested in his life.

He stifled a giggle. "They're amazing. I'm desperately in love with her, you know." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah yeah, save the exaggerations for someone who will believe them," she muttered.

"I'm serious," he said, sitting down so his feet dangled off the roof. "I just, I love her personality. She's funny, but also serious at all the right times, and she's got the most beautiful blue eyes and she's so good at everything, and I'm sure everyone she meets must fall in love with her. I'm surprised _you_ haven't fallen for her, Ladybug." He flashed her a smirk.

"Yeah, well, I've got my own love issues to worry about." She plopped down next to him.

"You know, I happen to know Adrien personally," Chat started. "And I think he'd love a visit from Ladybug."

"Really?" Her eyes were wide with wonder.

"Yeah. He has a HUGE crush on you," Chat said.

"If only he liked civilian me," she lamented.

"Go visit him. Maybe he does."

 **Author's note:** Yikes, writer's block? Gimme some ideas here ppl I'm almost out


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:** That one review I got last night has revived me! Thank you, guest. I guess I'm gonna write another chapter now. Here's some more troll!Adrien

 **Chapter Ten**

CN: _Did you go visit Adrien yet?_

Marinette groaned. She had been debating for the past few days over whether or not she should actually visit Adrien in costume. It's just that she had always viewed being Ladybug as a responsibility, not something for "romantic escapades," as Chat Noir's kwami had called it the other night.

LB: _I just don't know if I should…what if he's busy? What if I interrupt him while he's doing homework?_

CN: _how about you come up with a time you'll be there, and I'll tell him, so he won't be doing anything interruptible_

LB: _but I'd want it to be a surprise_

CN: _Alright, I'll make it seem like I'm going to visit him. Hows that?_

LB: _Okay…are you sure this is a good idea?_

CN: _absolutely!_

LB: _Alright…8 pm_

Adrien squealed. He'd been dreaming of this day for as long as he had known the blue-haired heroine. Marinette had also dreamed of a rendezvous with Adrien, although under much different circumstances—she had wanted it to be Marinette, not Ladybug. When it was finally time for Ladybug's visit, Adrien sat on his couch and turned on his television. When he heard a knock on his window, he turned and put on his best confused face as he opened it.

"Ladybug?"

She put a hand on the back of her neck. "Uh, yeah, hi, Adrien…" He put out a hand to help her inside.

"To what do I owe this visit?"

"I just wanted to visit—I heard you were a big fan?" She clearly hadn't thought through her explanation.

"Oh yeah, huge fan." He blushed a little, which made him seem convincingly starstruck, even though it was really because he was enamored with the girl before him.

"Wanna…hang out?"

His eyes lit up. "Really? Why with me?" He knew exactly what he was doing.

"Ah, never mind, this was a bad idea." She turned to go, but he grabbed her wrist.

"Wait! I'm grateful that it's me…you don't have to explain." He sat back down on the couch, patting the seat next to him.

She sat beside him reluctantly, shoulders tensed. Trying to lighten the mood, Adrien turned down the volume of the cartoon he had been "watching" and spoke up. "So, what's it like being the savior of Paris?"

She chuckled, relaxing a little bit. "I'm hardly the savior of Paris. I just happen to be there when Chat saves the day, and I de-evilize the akuma. That's all."

"Aw, come on. You're not giving yourself enough credit," Adrien said, sneaking an arm behind her on the couch. Thankfully, she was leaned forward, so she didn't notice.

"Nah, I'm just the strategist. Chat's the hero here. Besides," she said, smiling at the ground a little. "Anything good I do is just my duty. I don't need any praise for it."

His admiration for her skyrocketed in that moment. "Wow."

"Hah," she laughed nervously, leaning back. She tensed a bit when she felt his arm, but she didn't do anything about it.

"So, tell me about yourself." He was awfully cheeky lately, almost as cheeky as a certain black cat she knew…

"What do you want to know?"

"Who—"

She held up a hand to stop him. "No extremely personal questions, please."

"Fine…what's your favorite food?"

She answered without a beat. "You know those little boxes of assorted chocolates? I like to get those and randomly pick one, because you never know what you're gonna get. That's probably my favorite, because it's so fun to eat. What about you?"

"Hmm…spaghetti? I guess spaghetti."

"Cool…" she said, awkwardly. The rest of the evening was incredibly awkward, with Adrien seemingly over-interested in Ladybug and Ladybug becoming less and less comfortable by the minute. What she didn't know was that it was entirely intentional on his part—to drive her feelings back toward Chat Noir, the real, imperfect side of him.

When she stood up to leave, he smiled at her. She lingered in the window, so he spoke. "I've gotta ask—do you have a thing for Chat Noir? Is that why you seemed…nervous?"

She didn't want to hurt his feelings and just flat-out tell him she wasn't feeling any sparks, any romantic love towards him. She had to have a reason, but she truly couldn't think of one. He was…boring. Adrien Agreste, the guy she had idolized for the past year, was just a guy. There wasn't much special about him. Of course, she couldn't say that, so she took his bait. "Uh, yeah…we're a team and all, and I've always had a little thing for him." As she said it, she realized it was true.

"I'm happy for you, Ladybug." He smiled.

"Can I ask you something?" She said suddenly.

"Sure," he said.

"Would you ever consider dating Marinette Dupain-Cheng?"

"Uh…I don't know. I'm not really looking for a girlfriend, but she's a great friend." He felt bad for saying that, but he couldn't steal Marinette's affections away from Chat—who was himself. This was confusing.

"Alright," she said, tears gathering in her eyes. "Bye," she said.

He smiled again, closing the door behind her as she yoyoed away.

…

She lay in bed with her arm over her eyes for hours. The only thing that roused her from her half-slumber was a text from Chat Noir, which she had been waiting for anyway.

CN: _Well mlady how was your date?_

LB: _It wasn't a date chat. It was one of the most awkward situations of my life_

CN: _Okay im sorry. Do you wanna talk about it?_

LB: _Can I call you?_

CN: _always_

He picked up on the first ring. "Hey, Chat."

Immediately, he spoke up. "I'm sorry you had such a bad time."

"It's not that I had a bad time…it's just, he said something that made me really sad."

"Okay, meet me on the patrol rooftop." He almost hung up but thought better of it. "Calling you is so much fun," he said, giggling.

"I agree," she said, leaving him stunned as she hung up.

…

As soon as he saw her, he opened his arms for the hug. She was already crying all over his shoulder. "Aww, I'm sorry Ladybug." He rubbed her back. "I brought some stuff to cheer you up." Here, he pulled out a box of assorted chocolates, along with a small bouquet of flowers.

She pulled back, looking really surprised. "Chat, this is all so nice! But wouldn't you rather give it to Marinette?"

"Ladybug," he said, opening the box. "I know this may seem crazy to you, but I can be in love with her and still be a good friend to you."

She actually giggled at this. "You've been so nice ever since you fell for her."

"It's probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. Well, that, and becoming Chat Noir," he said with a wink. "As long as I'm Chat Noir, she can't be disappointed by the real me."

"What is the real you like?" Ladybug took a bite of a truffle.

"Boring." He said it so flatly that she almost spit out her chocolate from laughing. "I'm not actually boring, but I'm so introverted and socially-undeveloped that I come across as a robot. It's because I've been raised to care about what everyone thinks of me and to keep up this perfect image. So when I'm Chat Noir, I'm carefree and can be myself."

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Do you think we know each other in real life?"

"I hope not." Here, she scoffed.

"What? Why?"

"Because you wouldn't like the real me," he said.

"I think," she said slowly, "that one day, we will find out each other's identities, and I think it will be a happy moment, not a sad one."

"I agree," the black cat said. He stood, pulling her up with him. "I'm sorry Adrien rejected you. But I'm sure he will come around. I promised Marinette I'd visit her sometime this week, so I have to go, but…it was fun hanging out with you." He jumped off the building, leaving Ladybug standing there with a smirk.

…

Marinette dropped into her room with a few moments to spare. "I can't believe I've been so blind this whole time, Tikki," she said, feeding her kwami a macaron. "Adrien is Chat Noir."

"How do you know?" Tikki asked knowingly.

"I never told him that Adrien rejected me, yet he apologized for it at the end. I also only told Adrien that I like the chocolates, yet Chat Noir showed up with them. There's no way it's just a coincidence." Marinette smirked.

"But, Marinette, you can't be sure without proof." Marinette sighed at Tikki's reasoning.

"You're right. But how can I get proof?"

"Hmmm…ask somebody for Adrien's phone number and see if it matches Chat Noir's."

"That's brilliant, Tikki!" She pulled out her phone, hurriedly texting Nino for Adrien's number as she heard the knocks on her window.

Chat came strolling in just as Marinette put her phone next to her arm, on the side of the bed he wasn't standing by. Now, she just had to stall him until she figured out if he really was Adrien.

"Hey, Chat." She smiled up at him nervously. He leaned down for a hug, but she stood up, blocking his view of her phone. "Look at this drawing I made!" she shouted, running over to her sketchbook. When she didn't find a good drawing, she rummaged through her drawers.

"Marinette," Chat said softly.

"It's in here somewhere, I just gotta find it."

"Marinette," he said again, louder this time.

"Uh, it this it? No—"

"Marinette!" He said, loud enough for her to hear. She turned to him, and he gripped her shoulders, eyes closed. "I came here for a reason, you know."

"Right, I'm sorry. You have my full attention." She waited.

"I, uh, we've been hanging out a lot lately, as you know," he stammered. She sat back down on the edge of her bed, so as to seem less intimidating. Still, he turned around and put his hands on her desk, unable to face her. "And I've kind of…fallen in love with you."

She wanted to gasp or act surprised, but she already knew. "Aw, _mon minou…_ " She looked down at her phone, which lit up with Nino's reply. Quickly she pulled up Chat Noir's phone number to compare to Adrien's…

"And I wanted to know if you'd be my girlfriend."

The numbers matched.

 **Author's Note:** Is this evil? I feel kind of evil lol. As always, review review review! I NEED THEM


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:** Voila.

QUICK POLL:

Okay, so does anyone else think Twan Kuyper would make a good older Chat Noir in a live action film? He's so handsome, I think he'd work perfectly. If you can, please review saying your answer and if you have any comments on the story, please tell me them!

 **Chapter Eleven**

Marinette's entire face flushed red, which was a perfect reaction to Chat's question, though she was reacting to the fact that the two guys she liked were actually one guy. "You…wanna date _me_?"

He had turned around in time to see her blush and hear her stammered words. "Well, yeah…but I understand if you're still stuck on Adrien," he muttered.

"No, no," she said taking his hand. "I'd love to date you. I just think it's strange that _you_ wanna date _me_."

"It's not strange at all," he said. "And I'm in love with you, so you don't have to worry about me being disinterested."

"What about contacting each other? We can't text, remember?"

"We can email?" he offered. She smiled up at him.

"Alright." They traded phones, putting in each other's emails. After a few technical difficulties (mainly because Adrien had to make another email, one that his father didn't go through), they both sat side by side on the bed.

He grabbed her hand in both of his, and she asked, "How is all this going to work?"

"All what?" he asked softly.

"All _us._ We can't exactly go on dates or be a public couple or anything…"

"Unless I reveal my identity," he finished. "I know, and I'm ready to do that, but I also know that Ladybug wouldn't allow it. I promise, _Mari,_ that it will happen soon, but until then, you'll just have to trust me."

"I do, with my life." She lay back, legs hanging off the side of the twin size bed, and he did the same. After a short time in this position, Chat Noir started giggling. "What?"

"Hehe…You're my girlfriend." He smiled extremely widely.

"Yep," she said.

"I have a girlfriend."

"You very much do," she agreed.

"Hehehehehe it's Marinette."

"Who's Marinette?" Her Chat Noir side was showing.

Speaking of Chat Noir sides, Chat turned on his side and looked at her. "Ah man, you've gotta meet her. I'm _so_ in love with her." She couldn't say she loved him back…it was too soon. She loved him, but she didn't want to say it just yet.

"I'm sure she feels the same. Well," she said, changing the topic from what she just admitted and stretching her limbs. "I'd say it's time for me to go to bed." He whined like a kitten, so she pushed him off the bed into a standing position. Ears drooping, he made his way to the window, only to be yanked back by the tail. He turned to see Marinette, who was standing on tiptoe for…a kiss? Rather than just lean in and kiss him, she stopped and waited for him to consent.

He met her halfway.

…

" _Girl._ " Alya was leaning towards Marinette, who was still seated in the desk with Adrien. "Spill."

"Spill what?" Marinette put her phone down on the table.

"Who's your mystery guy?" Alya got a mischievous look in her eye, attracting Adrien's attention to the conversation.

"I don't have a mystery guy?" _Crap. It came out like a question._

"Then who are you always texting?"

"I'm not texting anyone." Technically, it wasn't a lie. She was using an email instant messaging system with text-like features, but it was still considered email.

"Yeah, sure." Alya rolled her eyes. "Adrien, what about you? Don't think I don't notice your fingers typing all the time."

"I'm emailing photographers." He said, coolly. "I'm more curious about who Marinette's emailing."

She flashed him a glare but quickly realigned her face. She couldn't give him the slightest clue that she knew he was Chat Noir and had knowledge of these things. "Alright, fine. It's bakery stuff." The idea of her emailing bakeries for three weeks straight was enough to make even Nino snort.

"HAHAHA! Fine, if neither of you wants to tell me the truth, then I will have to find out myself," Alya said creepily as she left the room.

Marinette made her way to her locker, somewhat irritated with Chat…Adrien…ugh. She wanted so badly to reveal herself, but she also didn't want him to know she was Ladybug, because Ladybug hadn't always been considerate of his feelings. When she turned to leave, she was greeted with an empty hall and a nervous-looking Adrien.

"Uh, hi, Marinette." He was scratching the back of his neck. "I was wondering, uh, shoot. I was wondering if you'd like to hang out with me tomorrow afternoon?" So he wanted to see if she was faithful, then? Two could play at that game.

"What? Why do you wanna go on a date with me?" She was no longer scared to talk to Adrien, now that she knew he was Chat, so she easily intimidated him.

"N—no, not a date," he stammered. "I actually got a visit from Ladybug a few weeks ago, and…she said something about you, and it made me really think. And I thought, I kinda wanna get to know Marinette a little more. I just want to hang out, not go on a date." Adrien looked incredibly nervous. It was adorable, and she lamented that she couldn't squish his face like she did to Chat Noir so often.

"Look, I'm gonna decline, but I have a good reason." She leaned in close. "Can you keep a secret?" He looked at her, wide-eyed, and nodded. "I have a boyfriend, and I don't think he'd be cool with me hanging out with you alone." _Even though I hang out with you alone all the time. You're my boyfriend._

"Oh, okay, I'm sorry, I didn't know—"

"It's okay," she said. "I just can't go public about it because Alya would _never_ let me have privacy with the guy."

"I'm in the same boat," he admitted. "I have a girlfriend, too, but if I told them, they'd never let me hear the end of it. Plus, there would be a possibility that my father could find out."

"I totally understand," Marinette muttered. Then, coyly, she asked, "What's your girlfriend like?"

His whole face lit up at the thought. "She's my everything," he said. Things apparently had moved a lot quicker than she thought, because he was really head over heels. "She means the world to me. I always have an amazing time with her, whether we're holding hands or insulting each other or pillow-fighting, all of it is fun because she's there. She makes my world better."

"That's so adorable," Marinette gushed. She had already died several times on the inside, so she couldn't exactly formulate a response. Adrien knew he was talking about her, but he didn't know that Marinette knew he was talking about her, so he found her response a bit strange.

"What about your boyfriend?"

"I just, I love him. I love him so much." _Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no oh no._ She hadn't been able to say "I love you" to Chat Noir because it was just such a strong sentiment and she didn't want to just throw it around so easily, yet here she was, saying it straight to Adrien's face. He seemed stunned.

"That's awesome, Marinette." He smiled at her, face bright red.

"Uh, yep, gotta go!" She took off in a fast walk towards the exit. Once she was safely outside, she fretted over what she had just done. She couldn't give Adrien such special treatment and not give it to Chat! What if she made him feel like she liked Adrien more? Even though she knew they were the same person. Oh, this was not good.

Later that night, she paced the floors. She was worried, because Chat had promised to come at 8, and it was half past 8. When he finally opened the window, she ran to him and hugged him. "Where were you?"

The hug was so tight and quick that Chat hardly had time to wrap his arms around her. "Sorry, dear, I was finishing up homework and I lost track of time."

They sat together on the edge of the bed. Marinette's leg kept bouncing, but anytime she thought about it, it bounced harder. "How was your day?" she asked, jittery.

"It was wonderful," he said. "I got to talk to my friends a lot, so it was nice."

"That's good," she said, sounding as distracted as she was. He put a hand on her knee to stop it from bouncing.

"Marinette, did you have too much coffee again?" He looked in her eyes knowingly.

"No," she said. "I just can't calm down."

"Understandable," he said, leaning closer. "I do have that… _effect_ on people." He winked.

"Tell me a story to calm me down," she said, standing and pacing again.

"Okay…So this once, I was at a friend's house, and he pulls out this—"

"I love you!" she turned away from him, hands on her desk.

"You—what?" He stood up.

"I love you. I'm sorry it took so long, I just wanted to be sure—what are you doing?" He had picked her up, holding her high in the air.

"She loves me!" he shouted. She shushed him, but he laughed over her.

"I was going to say that I didn't know if the love I feel for you is the same as the love you have for me—"

"Who cares if they're equal? The girl I love just told me she loves me!"

"Calm down, kitty. You're going to wake my parents up," she allowed herself a giggle.

"So that's why you were so nervous, then?" He put her down, finally.

Dodging the question, she said, "Ah, I miss being taller than you already."

"Here," he said, picking her up again. "How's that?"

"Better," she said, looking down at him with a smile. "At least now I can reach your ears." She scratched at them affectionately.

He set her down. "Okay, okay, enough of that. I have to be the tall one."

"And why's that?" She pouted at him.

"Because if I was shorter, I wouldn't be able to—" he dipped her. "—sweep you off your feet."

"You don't need to do that, Chat. I'm already all yours; I pretty much just admitted it." She chuckled.

"Admitted what?" He asked, though he already knew.

"That I love you." She smiled as he set her back on her feet.

"Say it again? Sorry, must be something in my ear," he lied.

"I love you." He smiled, getting closer.

"You love who?"

"Chat Noir," she said, rolling her eyes.

"What about him?" He leaned in closer as she put her arms around his neck.

"Are you really going to make me say it again? I think you've forgotten that this is my room and I can kick you out." She pulled away, and he whined at the loss of heat.

"Alright, alright, I'll go." He said, tail tucked between his legs like a saddened dog.

"Goodnight, kitty."

"Sweet dreams, _Mari._ "

 **Author's note:** Good? Bad? Twan Kuyper as Adrien? Lemme know whatcha think!


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:** Sorry for the late update, uh…budget cuts? I just didn't feel like anyone was interested in this fic anymore lol but here comes another chapter, if you don't like it, r

 **Chapter Twelve**

"Bye bye, little butterfly." Ladybug released the akuma and jumped down from the building she was standing on. Just before Chat Noir could run away, she yanked on his tail. "Meet me on the patrol rooftop?" He nodded confusedly. It was time for her to get her revenge.

"So…?" Chat said when he arrived on the rooftop and stood in front of her.

"I just wanted to tell you something…" she said, fiddling with her yoyo. It was hard enough admitting her feelings to him as Marinette.

"What is it, m'lady?" Chat kept his safe distance, a charming smile gracing his face.

"We've been partners for a long time—"

He cut her off. "You're not going to play that trick on me like before, are you?" he asked skeptically.

"No," she said, breathing out heavily. "I'm serious this time." That shut him up. "I think I've fallen in love with you," she said.

He knew what she was doing—trying to test him. "You know," he began, thinking of how best to phrase his reply. "There used to be a time that I dreamed of you, saying those words to me." She smiled a little at the ground, and he continued. "But…I'm in love with Marinette. I don't feel the same anymore, Ladybug." She smiled, tears of joy flooding her eyes as she heard him admit his feelings again. Instead of mistaking them for tears of sadness, though, Chat smirked. "If you had been a bit earlier, though—"

She shot him a glare. "If I had been a bit earlier?"

"Let me finish! If you had fallen for me earlier than this…I think I would have already fallen for Marinette." He turned away.

"But what about before you started visiting her?"

"Actually, I know her as my civilian self as well. It would have only been a matter of time before I fell for her as my civilian self if I had never visited her."

"Well, you're welcome." Ladybug put her hands on her hips, watching as Chat Noir faced her and quirked an eyebrow.

"For?"

"Hooking you two up. If I hadn't delivered you to her rooftop, you'd have never visited her and gotten to see the side of her that she is when she's not at school." She blanched at how much she had let on.

"You sure do know a lot about Marinette, m'lady. Are you sure you don't know her as your civilian self?" He whistled.

"I do, actually. We're really close." She closed her eyes smugly in a challenge.

"Ah, so you're Alya then?" She laughed at his guess.

"I wish. But nope." He walked closer studying her features.

"Well…you've got the same blue hair as Marinette, and the same blue eyes. You must be a cousin of hers." His eyes sparkled.

"Try again, kitty."

"An aunt?"

"Nope."

"Secret sister I don't know about?"

"Hah. No."

"Oh, it's all so clear now! You're Marinette's mom."

At this, she snorted and doubled over. When she finally recovered, she stood eye-to-eye with him, less than half a foot away. "No, I'm your age, _chaton._ "

He put a hand on her cheek, and she didn't shy away. "There's only one person I know who calls me ' _chaton_ ' in THAT voice."

"Your cousin? Uncle? Secret brother I don't know about?" Instead of laughing at her answer, though, he stepped closer.

The kiss was brief, but it was long-anticipated and full of their energy. When they broke apart, both sat contentedly with their legs hanging off the roof. He looked out over Paris.

"I'm going to have to tell Marinette that you cheated on her with me, you know." Ladybug was full of mirth, not entirely sure that they were on the same page with knowing each other's identities and also wondering how he might have known hers.

"Nah," he said, shifting his weight. "I'll tell her." He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "I cheated on you with you."

So he knew. She gave him the look she reserved for those small moments of amazement she had for his tricks and jokes. "How long have you known?"

"Ever since that night I came over and you let me see your phone to look through your contacts. I texted you right before I came in the room, and then when I got in, I clicked on the contact that got that text. It said 'Mary,' but I figured it was me. I think I just got lucky that you didn't see the message," he said, chuckling.

"What did the message say?" She asked lightly.

"A good ol' premature 'I love you' text, nothing like one of those. I deleted it from your phone when you gave it to me, like a pro." She gasped.

"How long ago was that?"

He whistled. "Like, months ago."

She smacked his arm jokingly. "Chat! You've just been messing with me this whole time?"

"Hey! You've been doing much worse to me! It's only fair." He rubbed his arm in mock injury.

"I'm sorry," she grumbled.

"Why? You hit me all the time," he joked.

"No, I mean I'm sorry for testing you all the time." She looked into his eyes sincerely.

"Yeah, me too. In and out of civilian form." He sighed.

"Oh yeah, 'It's not a date!'" She giggled.

"Hey! You didn't tell me you knew my identity!" He gaped at her.

With a shrug of her shoulders, she said, "Oops."

"How long? And how did you find out?"

She rested her elbow on his shoulder. "I told Adrien I liked a certain kind of chocolate, Chat Noir shows up with the same chocolate. Also, you made a few slip ups with what you were supposed to know; you apologized as Chat Noir for something Adrien did, even though I didn't tell you what he—I mean you—did. Then, I simply texted Nino and asked for Adrien's phone number, and boom, we got a match."

He shrugged off her elbow. "I'm not as slick as I thought."

"Aw, you don't give yourself enough credit, kitty. You figured my identity out first, remember?"

He flashed a closed smile at her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "I suppose so."

"So what now?"

"What do you mean?" He relaxed a little bit.

"What's going to be different?"

"I mean," he said, with a smirk. "I can kiss you as Adrien _or_ Chat Noir now, so that's pretty great."

"That's not what I meant," she said, swatting at his shoulder. "Maybe…could we go public as our civilian selves?"

He rubbed his chin. "That would be a good way to get Alya off our backs and explain away all our texting and emailing."

"Mhm…and it would be a good way to pass the time at school—now that we aren't walking on eggshells around each other, it will be fun to sit beside each other." She smiled.

"You're right," he said, though he looked like he was scheming about something.

They parted ways with one last quick kiss.

When she got home, she already had a text from Chat…Adrien. _Adrien Agreste was texting her._ It still hadn't sunk in. She opened the message, but it was just a bunch of hearts. She grinned to herself, sent him a goodnight text, and went to sleep with an overflowing heart.

…

The next morning, she noticed another text from Chat.

CN: _Good morning :) May I call you?_

LB: _Yeah_

She was still groggy when she picked up the phone. Instead of a hello, all she heard from the other side of the line was a series of "hehe" giggles.

"Adrien?" She tried, but he only giggled harder.

"Hi, girlfriend." Cue even more giggles.

She even chuckled a little bit. He acted more like a teenage girl in love than she did. "Hi, boyfriend. Any particular reason for this call?"

"I just wanted to say good morning, that's all, Bugaboo." She blushed.

"Good morning…and I gotta go get ready, so I will see you at school."

"Hehehe…bye!" He hung up extremely quickly.

A little freaked out, Marinette rushed through her morning routine to make up for the time lost calling her boyfriend. When she finally made it to school, the halls were eerily hushed. Marinette slowly walked to her locker, wondering why everyone was crowded against the walls and whispering as she walked by.

And then she saw it; her locker, decked out in bright red, hearts posted all over the front, little smiley faces. Confusedly, she turned around to ask a bystander what the heck was going on.

But when she turned around, there was Adrien, kneeling on the floor, holding out a rose.

 **Author's Note:** Probably gonna be a double post tonight, just really felt the flow of the writing.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note:** DOUBLE POST YEEHAW PLEASE READ NOTE AT THE BOTTOM

 **Chapter Thirteen**

"Hey," he said, no nervousness despite the eyes watching them. Being a model must make it easier for him to be in front of others. "I was wondering if you'd like to be my girlfriend?"

At a loss for words, she nodded excitedly. He stood up for a quick hug, handing her the rose in the process. She went to open her locker and felt his eyes on her as a ton of roses fell out. She laughed, feeling more relaxed now that everyone had gone back to talking amongst themselves at a normal volume. He helped her push the rose bouquet back into her locker and pulled a box of those same chocolates from before out of the top of her locker. "Tada!"

"You've really stepped up your game since the last time you asked me out," she joked. He leaned in.

"It gets better," he said.

"Wow, no way. But, where's Alya?"

Cue the screaming best friend. Alya jumped on Marinette's back, shaking the blue-haired girl up. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING THIS IS SO AMAZING HOLY COW THESE TWO DORKS HAVE FINALLY STOPPED FRIENDZONING EACH OTHER—"

"Alya, chill out!"

She stepped down and took a deep breath as Nino's hand found its way to her shoulder. "Can I at least get a picture with the newlyweds?"

"Haha, we aren't married, Alya."

Shrugging, she forced them to take a picture with her. When the friends made it to class, Marinette still sat next to Adrien, but this time, he held her hand under the table, which did not go unnoticed by Alya or Nino. Adrien kissed her forehead before he left for his next class, while Marinette stayed in her seat since her next class was in the same room. Alya slid down into the seat next to her, with Nino close behind.

"What's going on?" Alya interrogated.

"What?" Marinette refused to make eye contact.

"Why are you guys so lovey-dovey? He just asked you out like an hour ago and you're already holding hands and kissing foreheads?"

Marinette searched for an answer. "Time flies when you're in love?" she offered weakly.

"What the heck? What the heck," Alya said at the same time that Nino spoke.

The boy smiled. "Right on!"

Alya glared at him. "Nino and I didn't even kiss until a month after we started—"

"You kissed?" Marinette shouted. "You didn't tell me!"

Alya facepalmed. "This isn't about me, Marinette; it's about you and Mr. Sunshine Child. How did your relationship progress right under our noses like this?" She sounded incredulous.

"Remember that time we were emailing in class?" Marinette asked. "We were…emailing each other.

Marinette's best friend considered whether or not she should be offended by Marinette's previous lies, but she brushed it off. "I'm just really happy for you, girl." Alya squeezed in a hug and pinched Nino when he stole her seat just before class started.

…

At the end of that wonderful day, an akuma came along. The heroes quickly stopped the villain, sharing little moments of adoration before the akuma was purified. This time, when the press gathered at the scene of the attack, Chat Noir stayed behind, grabbing his Lady's hand before she could leave. Neither of them had used Lucky Charm or Cataclysm, so they wouldn't time out. After fielding a few questions on evildoing in Paris, the conversation turned to love, as it always did. At this point, Chat Noir dropped to one knee, just as he had that same morning as Adrien. Ladybug shot him a pleasantly confused look, but she couldn't really react or ask anything in front of all the cameras.

"Ladybug," he started, looking down at the ground for confidence. "I've known you for a long time, and I've loved you for just hours short of that time. I know that sounds dramatic," he said, eliciting a chuckle out of her. "But it's the truth. Will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?"

She gave him a sly smile. "Well, when you put it like THAT…yes." She expected him to stand and hug her, but instead, he calmly stood next to her and asked for more questions to be asked.

At one point, his arm sneaked around her shoulders, and he called her "the love of his life" to a random reporter. When all was said and done, they parted ways with yet another kiss, and Paris went wild behind them.

Marinette fell on her bed but found no respite because Alya called her not a few seconds later. "Today has been the best day of my life," Alya declared dramatically.

"What a coincidence," Marinette said, smiling genuinely. "Mine, too."

" _Girl_ ," Alya said, unable to contain her excitement. "Not only did you and Adrien get together, but my OTP—don't get me wrong, you guys are my OTP too, it's just that you were gonna get with him anyway—my OTP got together today as well!"

"And who is your OTP again?" The pigtailed girl played dumb.

"LADYBUG AND CHAT NOIR STARTED DATING AND ATE EACH OTHER'S FACES OFF ON LIVE TELEVISION MARINETTE DON'T _PRETEND_ YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" Alya was screaming.

"Woah, chill." But Alya didn't hear her friend.

"I'M SO EXCITED! MY WHOLE CREW IS GETTING TOGETHER."

"I'm excited, too." Marinette rolled over.

"Oh, am I keeping you from Adrien?"

"No, I love talking to you, Alya. Best friends before boy—" Alya cut her off.

"Nino's calling gotta go love you bye!" _So much for best friends before boyfriends._

Marinette still felt like something was missing on this amazing day. And she knew exactly what it was.

…

Ladybug stopped just outside Adrien's window at 11:30 p.m. She knocked, peering in to see if he had already gone to sleep. Unable to find him, she called him.

"Hey, are you home?" she said as soon as he picked up.

"Well, hello to you, too," he said, chuckling. "I could ask you the same thing. I'm on your balcony."

"Hah! I'm outside your window."

"…Wow."

"We're idiots," Marinette said, laughing.

"Uh, excuse me?" He sounded angry.

"Sorry—"

"Don't talk about my girlfriend that way." He giggled.

"Whoops. I guess I'll just come home then?"

"No," he said, sounding out of breath. "I'm on my way back. Just…don't go anywhere, okay?"

"Roger that," she said, preparing to hang up.

"AND DON'T HANG UP," he added.

"Alright, well could you hurry up? I really wanna do this before midnight."

"Do…what?"

"Midnight kiss," she answered innocently.

"You wanna do the midnight kiss but not at midnight?" He saw straight through her bluff.

"I…shut up," she said laughing. "Fine, it's not that. But it's a surprise, so you better hurry up."

"Yes, ma'am—I mean, sergeant," he said, breathing with difficulty while jumping from rooftop to rooftop. She laughed at his absurd humor.

"I really love you," she accidentally said. It came out more like a sigh.

"Feeling's mutual," the black cat said slyly.

"How romantic," Ladybug replied.

"Sorry, how's this: 'I'd rather die tomorrow than live a hundred years without knowing you.'"

"…Did you just quote Pocahontas? _Really?_ "

"I'm sorry! It was the most romantic thing I could think of at the time." Suddenly, his voice was right next to her, but neither of them hung up, not even when she met his eyes.

She was hanging upside down like Spiderman. "Ya big dork," she muttered, awestruck as he leaned out the window.

"Now, what does the savior of Paris need me so badly for?" He shot her a smirk.

"Date me," she squeaked out, leaning forward to kiss him. It was a strange angle, but it worked better between these two than it had for any of the Spidermans…Spidermen…whatever.

He giggled, breaking the kiss. "' _How romantic,_ '" he quipped. She made booing noises.

"Is that a no, then?" she asked finally.

"It's not a no," he replied, drawing it out. She realized that they might have no time left, and then the best day ever would have to be two days.

"Hey what time is it?"

"11:59."

"Please say yes."

"Yes, of course I'll date you, for like, the fourth time," he said as the clock struck 12. She leaned in for one last kiss with her Mary Jane (wow, and his name in her phone was Mary) before zipping off into the night to sleep on a day full of the best decisions she had ever made.

(Of course, he one-upped her again; there was a gift basket full of stuffed animals on her balcony when she got home, and all she gave him was two Spiderman kisses and her heart, four times in one day.)

She sat on the balcony, and he sat on the windowsill at his house; both looked out at the City of Love. It was beautiful again.

 **Author's Note:** Soooooooo lemme know in the review section what ya think. Should I end it here? Should I have an epilogue? Should I add more chapters before the end? Should I make more fics that branch off of this one like multiple timelines? Seriously y'all I need some advice. Will take any.


	14. Epilogue

A/N: hi guys, long time no update, I know. I decided to do an epilogue for this fic. Please let me know your thoughts on it below.

 **Epilogue**

 **[ALSO: CHECK OUT MY NEW FIC CALLED "THE CHATROOM"]**

It was a long, long engagement. Adrien had privately proposed fairly early after the duo had graduated high school. He bought her the prettiest ring, a small diamond on a simple silver band, and she wore it everywhere. Though Marinette and Adrien's relationship in high school had been public (to the others in their school), he did not have his own father's blessing for the engagement, so they had to keep both the engagement and their relationship a secret from the press until they became adults. Marinette took solace in wearing her ring as Ladybug because she couldn't wear it as Marinette. Unfortunately, the press got a picture of Ladybug wearing the ring over her suit. Now everyone expected that she was marrying Chat Noir, and to be married on the same day would be to tell the world their identity.

"What are we going to do?" Marinette whisper-yelled as she and Adrien, having just de-transformed, hid in a closet to avoid the press that were chasing them. She was crushed between him and the wall. "Have two weddings?"

He chuckled a little bit, not nearly as upset about the issue as she was. "Everything will work out fine. We'll have our wedding, and we can have a…public wedding, in costume, how's that?"

She frowned with discomfort, wiggling away from the wall when a coat hanger that felt too much like a hand touched her shoulder. He caught her as she tripped into him, knocking the door open a tad. "Over there!" they both heard. Suddenly, the door was wide open, and reporters with cameras were looking in on the couple.

The newspapers contained headlines that read "Agreste heir in sticky situation with baker's daughter" and featured a picture of them huddled all too close to each other. It was the type of pun Chat Noir would be proud of. However, Mr. Agreste was NOT at all happy with the new development in his son's relationship.

"Adrien," he said, pinching bridge of his nose. "I told you I would tolerate your relationship with this girl ONLY if you keep it private. And what did you do? You went into a very public hotel, walked right into a closet, and did—I don't even want to know what. Did you kiss? Did she ruin your face?"

Adrien scowled at his father's anger. In two days, he would officially be an adult, finally able to go public with his engagement to Marinette. He would be able to tell his father that there was nothing he could do about it. But for now, he had to put up with this. "We hid in there BECAUSE there were reporters nearby, father."

"Did you have a public date? That's where you went wrong—"

"No," Adrien interrupted, something he rarely did when his father was speaking. "We ran into each other right before the reporters came." He hated lying, but his superhero persona was not something that he could ever reveal to his father. There was no time ticking away for that secret; it had to be secret forever.

"Perhaps I need to keep you at home for a little while. You do realize that my reputation—no, my livelihood—suffers when you make such stupid mistakes, right?" Mr. Agreste did not even glance at his son as he said the words.

"Marinette is not a 'stupid mistake,' she's the girl I love. I'm sorry if you don't know what love feels like," he spat, turning to stomp out of the house, but his father grabbed his wrist.

"How dare you? Everything I've done has been for you and for your mother. All of it!" He was breathing hard from yelling. He turned to the Gorilla. "Take Adrien to his room and DON'T let him leave."

Deposited in his room, Adrien paced back and forth. He was angry at himself for getting caught by the press and at his father for being so harsh with him. He locked his door, transformed, jumped through his window, and headed to Marinette's house.

He knocked on her window, surprised to see no light on. She never went to sleep so early. Dejected, he turned to leave, but saw Ladybug standing behind him. "I was coming to see if you were okay," she said.

"Let's get married, right now," he said, rashly. It was still around six in the evening; surely they could find an official somewhere.

She sucked in a breath. "What?"

"As superheroes." He took both her hands. "Let's get married, Ladybug."

"But why so suddenly?"

He bit his lip. He couldn't tell her that he was angry at his dad, and he wasn't even sure that was the reason why. "I just want to, okay?"

She seemed a bit shaken, but she knew that the only way to make him feel better was to say yes. "Okay, _chaton,_ " she said, nodding and stepping closer. "Let's do it."

They found an official in mere moments, and, standing hand in hand, with the paparazzi all around them, they asked him to marry them. The man looked absolutely starstruck, but still, he said, "I just need you to sign your real names."

"No," Chat said, fist tightening around Ladybug's hand. "Just marry us. It's just a ceremony."

"That's not due process—" the official continued, but the reporters interrupted him.

"Just marry them!" they shouted. "We've been waiting for this!"

Sighing, the official had them repeat their vows after him. He grew more and more downcast as the ceremony proceeded, and when he told Chat to kiss the bride, an akuma landed on the official's tie, interrupting the wedding. Chat still kissed Ladybug, but they were soon cut apart by a sharp push between the two. "Chat!" Ladybug screamed as she was pushed backwards.

"If you won't use due process," the akumatized official snarled, "then you won't be together at all!"

Chat tried to run towards his lady, only to be pushed back by some invisible force. Frustrated, the anger of the night coming through, Chat started attacking the official. Ladybug tried to do the same, but the minute she got too close to Chat, they were both pushed away. Thinking quickly, she summoned her lucky charm. It was a pair of documents stating that they did not need to state their names to be married under Paris's Superhero Exemption Law [yes that's completely made up, sorry to all those Parisian heroes out there who want to get married]. She quickly shoved it in the akumatized official's face, but he tutted. "There's no official seal of the mayor!" he yelled, taking a stab at Ladybug, who quickly dodged.

"I'll be right back," she said, blowing Chat a kiss and running in the direction of the mayor's residence. She returned with the requested seal, and as the official read through it, she pulled on his tie until it came off. The struggle continued between Ladybug and the official until she was able to rip the tie, purify the akuma, and catch her breath. Though they had technically been married, she wasn't sure the ceremony was over. The press had run for cover, hiding behind cars and under benches. They were peeking out at the pair of superheroes now. Chat Noir lifted her by the waist, using his baton to get far, far away from the situation. Marinette kissed Chat goodbye, ducked into her room, and blanched at the sight of several men standing in her room. One took her purse and laid it on her bed. "Come with us," they said, not really giving her a chance to decide. They covered her mouth as she screamed.

When Adrien returned home, the sun was beginning to rise. His father was waiting outside his room. "I know you sneaked out last night," he said.

"But father—"

"And I've decided that you cannot be trusted. We are going to take a trip for a little while, until you can behave," his father admonished him.

He wasn't given the chance to argue. Nathalie packed his things in a very short amount of time. He couldn't find his phone to inform Marinette, so he figured his father had confiscated it. He forlornly followed his father to the car.

Meanwhile, Marinette was being held hostage. She didn't have Tikki because they'd left her purse on her bed. Her captors had come while her parents were asleep and taken her to a park dozens of miles outside the city in a very rural, almost deserted area, giving her little explanation other than "This is so you won't interfere."

"Why would I interfere? With what?" she screamed, seeing a few lights go on in houses not too far away. "You might want to go check on that over there," she said, pointing to the house across the street. Thinking quickly, she ran in the direction of the road as the men looked out at the houses. She kept running, sprinting with all the speed of Ladybug, until she turned and realized that her captors were nowhere in sight. Still, she turned and sprinted, the rising sun following her.

Adrien was looking out the window. His father seemed to be unaware that at midnight his son would be an adult. The sun was rising higher in the sky. "If this place is so far away," he said to his father, who sat in the back seat with him, "then why are we taking a car instead of a plane?"

"It isn't far away," his father muttered. "We just have to lose the press who are following us." Adrien looked behind the car; sure enough, there were two or three cars following them (very obviously).

They stopped at a very strange establishment and switched to another car. It wasn't one he had ever seen before, and he wondered how often his father had used such maneuvers to avoid the press. They had an early supper shortly after, and he noticed that they were heading back in the direction of Paris. "So where are we going?"

His father looked exasperated. "Why do you need to know? It's a punishment."

Adrien sat back in fear of his father's words.

Marinette was close to crawling along the road at this point. She had overestimated how long it would take her to get to a more populated place. When she'd first begun running away, she thought for sure she was heading back to Paris. But she noticed after a while that she was mostly alone on the road. Every once in a while, a car would pass by, but nobody stopped, and none of the houses out in the rural area were occupied, or, if they were, all the occupants refused to open the door for her. She suspected that, rather than chase her, her captors had told those living nearby not to help her. They had probably been paid off, too. She just wanted to know how she was interfering. Finally, long after the sun had set, she decided to turn onto a smaller road and head towards a speck in the distance. It could have been a house, or maybe just a mirage of some sort, but she just felt it drawing her. As she got closer, she realized it was a car heading her way. She could have cried for joy; it had been a few miles since a car had passed by. Hopefully this one would stop; it had to stop because there was a red light up ahead. The car finally stopped at the light, and Marinette raised her arms and began to cry out for help. She was fairly far from the car and had little energy to get closer.

Adrien squinted at the figure waving around, and as he stared at her, he realized it was Marinette. He recognized her blue pigtails, even against the dark sky. He looked at his father's watch: midnight.

"Stop the car!" he yelled to the Gorilla, who was driving.

"What, Adrien, where are you—" Mr. Agreste's eyes fell on Marinette as his son bounded out of the car. "Why didn't anyone inform me that she escaped," he muttered. "Get me on the phone with those idiots!" he yelled at the Gorilla.

Adrien ran to her, cupping her face when he finally reached her. "What are you doing here? Why do you look so exhausted?"

She looked at him, eyes full of tears. "Please get me out of here. Please."

Mr. Agreste was forced to take her home with him because Adrien refused to comply otherwise. When she explained to him what happened, Adrien vowed never to forgive his father. In fact, to infuriate his father, he requested an interview with Nadja Chamack to address the rumors about him and Marinette.

Once on the interview, Adrien began, "My father tried to keep us apart for so long. He thought he was keeping me safe," he added. "But he was keeping me from the one person I love in the world."

Marinette was sitting next to him during the interview, glad that the cameras were on him while he was speaking, so they wouldn't see her blush. "That's beautiful," Nadja said. "So what's your relationship to this young lady now, then?"

"Well," Adrien started, sending Marinette a little wink. "I'm hoping she'll be my fiancée."

Marinette, Nadja, and likely all of Paris gasped when Adrien knelt down, just as he had when he asked her to be his girlfriend, and asked her to marry him. Smiling as she pulled him up after he put the ring, different from the ring he'd given Ladybug, on her finger, she added, "Publicly, this time, I hope?"

"Yes," he said, with a chuckle. "However you want."

 **A/N: PLEASE READ MY OTHER FIC!**


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